LEDF/CISNAN: Taking the HIV/AIDS Campaign to the Grassroots

LEDF/CISGHAN: Taking the HIV/AIDS Campaign to the Grassroots
By
Kabiru Danladi
kblondon2003@yahoo.com
08035150369, 08054546764, 08098150369
In sub-Saharan Africa, the issue of HIV/AIDS has become a matter of life and death due to poverty, weak public health systems, fear of stigmatization and the high cost of testing the virus. The spread of the disease due to these problems, according to the United Nations, have allowed the virus to spread virtually unchecked.
In Nigeria as in many African countries the issue is the same, however no area is worst affected like the rural areas of Northern Nigeria. Realising this Non Governmental Organization, the Lawanti Education Development Foundation in collaboration with CISGHAN took the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign to the grassroots.
Although LEDF initial objective was to help its immediate community in uplifting the deteriorating standard of education in that area, they were quick to realize that it is equally important to include the issue of HIV/AIDS in their campaign. This was due to the link LEDF realized between poverty, illiteracy and HIV/AIDS. Using the door to door campaign our members have gone round the village and all surrounding villages which include; Toungo, Wuro Konkeje, Marori, Kan Dam, Jouro Haruna, Kan Kwari and even Dolli to help enlighten people on the causes of HIV/AIDS, prevention, and advising people to come for voluntary counseling and testing.
Since its inception in 2003 (5 years ago), LEDF has succeeded in enlightening our people of the importance of Western education. Our belief is that we can fight HIV/AIDS if we have an informed and educated society. As I said earlier the main objective of LEDF was how to solve the deteriorating standard of education in the area. In a village with a population of over 20,000 people, we have only one primary school with only two blocks of classrooms.
Therefore, we embarked on community effort, first to have additional classroom block, secondly to see how we can have a community secondary school. In 2004, we started the building of a classroom block which we completed in 2005 just two years after the formation of the organization. Not only that, we wrote a proposal to the Community Based Poverty Reduction Programme to help us build a community secondary school. The community provided 10% of the needed money to execute the project, while the Agency provided the remaining. Today we have a functional community secondary school with over 300 students.
LEDF was able to rehabilitate the village maternity and upgrade it to a Maternal and Child Care Centre, which was commissioned on the 23rd December, 2006. The Health Centre received a boost from State Action Committee on AIDS (SACA), by opening a Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre in the maternity where people come every month for testing and counseling.
LEDF was also able to sponsor 10 traditional birth attendants in Lawanti and training of 2 maternity staff in School of Health Technology, Kaltungo on how to take charge of VCT activities. The NGO also sponsored the training of 6 of the maternity staff.
With the collaboration of Ministry of Women Affairs, Gombe State, we gave assistance to OVC members that include books, food items and clothes. As I said earlier our activities are numerous and we are leaving in a community that needs help because the community is cited as one of the backward communities in the state.
The organization as part of its HIV/AIDS campaign awareness, organized an advocacy visit to so many places in and around Lawanti area to educate people on stigmatization and discrimination for persons living with HIV/AIDS. We used that opportunity to also encourage them to go for HIV test. We showed them the advantages of one to know his HIV status.
Above all, LEDF registered with so many NGOs in the state capital with the sole aim of partnership in the fight against HIV and AIDS. For instance we have partnership with AON, SOHEFA, NIPTHRI, and CISHAN. We have shown our seriousness and commitment to HIV/AIDS reduction and control in our community. Lawanti has a culture of hosting so many people especially from different part of the country in the months of August to February. The village hosts more than 500 people every year – normally they come to work on farms, since majority of our people are farmers.
With the construction of International Airport, we saw additional influx of people to the village ranging from construction workers to people in search of work. Normally these are the most vulnerable people in the society. Therefore, we need to put more efforts in our campaign.
Unfortunately we are handicapped by lack of finance. The projects and programmes are numerous and they need funding, we have to use this opportunity to call on donor agencies to come to our aid in our efforts to make life easy for our community and free it from the dangers of world’s most dreaded disease – HIV/AIDS.