FHI - Nigeria’s President Leads by Example, Goes for HIV Counseling and Testing

DECEMBER 2006 — President Olusegun Obasanjo helped launch Nigeria's National Counseling and Testing Programme at the commemoration of World AIDS Day in Abuja Dec. 1. Leading by example, the president publicly received counseling and was tested for HIV.

Addressing the crowd, President Obasanjo said the counseling and testing program was developed to ensure that as many people as possible could access information and services near their homes and workplaces. He expressed satisfaction at Nigerians' increasing knowledge and awareness of HIV/AIDS.

"A great majority of Nigerians have now come to accept the reality of AIDS – a great improvement from six years ago when we adopted the multisectoral paradigm for our national response," he said.

The president also expressed hope that the counseling and testing program will provide people living with HIV/AIDS the opportunity to know their status. This puts them in a position to access treatment, which the federal government now provides free of charge.

Obasanjo said the program would reduce the risks of mother-to-child transmission by ensuring that "most if not all pregnant women have access to counseling and testing."

In the last few years, Nigeria has experienced rapid scale-up of counseling and testing. Obasanjo acknowledged the contributions of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and the World Bank.

FHI leads implementation of the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Nigeria (GHAIN), a five-year project that is strengthening and expanding a wide range of HIV/AIDS services to support the government of Nigeria's response to the epidemic.

PHOTO: Simon Cartier of FHI/Nigeria (far right) counseled and tested President Olusegun Obasanjo (seated, far left) at a World AIDS Day commemoration in Abuja. (FHI/Nigeria)