PLWH assess gains of ICASA 2005

February 1, 2006 :: Chuka Odittah,Abuja Thisday,Lagos

Due to renewed campaigns on HIV and AIDS, many Nigerians now appreciate the risks associated with contacting the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Besides leading to outright death where care and counseling are lacking, many more people now realise that contacting HIV can subject sufferers to untold discomfort.

However, in spite of what appears to be an increasing level of awareness about the disease, significant proportion of the Nigerian populace, particularly women and children still fall prey to the deadly virus at rather alarming rate.

Cases of new infection or re-infection occur daily through channels other than the sexual intercourse aperture which most people tend to identify as chief cause of HIV virus. Other channels of infection include use of infected tattoo making gadgets, wrong use of condoms, re-use of surgery forceps or injections, transfusion with infected blood in hospitals or blood banks, use of unsterilised blades, needles and other sharp objects, use of infected barbing clippers and long untreated infections.

According to research, out of an estimated 47 million people now infected with HIV/AIDS world wide, an average of 30 million from that figure are said to originate from sub-Saharan Africa, which includes Nigeria. Even more disturbing is the discovery that more than 55 per cent of those infected in Africa are women and children, a development that has forced life expectancy level to slide down to as low as 40 years on the average.

The last but one edition of the biennial conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa, ICASA, was held in Nairobi, Kenya before the Nigerian conference late last year. The need to create a continent-wide forum where Africans could articulate and share knowledge and experiences on the HIV pandemic inspired a group of concerned scientists to form a think-thank of sort to manage the spread of the opportunistic infection. These scientists under the auspices of the Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA) came up around 1980 with the idea of organising a conference on HIV/AIDS and other sexually communicated infections. The core objective of the conference was to empower Africans to develop and sustain indigenous but effectual strategies and policies to curb HIV spread. This initiative crystalised later into ICASA.

Some of the peak achievements of the conference include cross breed of ideas and transfer of knowledge by experts, especially sharing of ideas among PLWHAs on best approach to managing their status and prevention of further spread. A number of salient views were canvassed during the conference on the possible ways to curb the rapid spread of HIV in Nigeria and elsewhere. One of such outstanding recommendations which may never be acknowledged came from Professor Wole Soyinka, Nigeria's Nobel laureate.

According to Soyinka, since the world had waited for more than two decades for scientists to come up with orthodox cure for HIV/AIDS without proven success, Africans should not resign their fate to the scientific lull. He challenged Africans, particularly those with the knowledge of traditional herbal medicine to take the bull by the horn to embark on research into herbs and come up with ways herbs can be effectively utilised to salvage mankind from HIV and AIDS.

A Canadian health expert, Kathina Chan of the Fantsuan Foundation, corroborated the fears and dangers of abstinence that has been championed by faith-based organisation. She said abstinence is obviously not working, hence the growing number of newly infected.

"Focus on abstinence as a means of mitigating sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, which as you know is an opportunistic infection is wrong. I understand that in your culture (African culture); sex is not a thing that is discussed openly. For that reason, the culture of casual sex is rampant."

In a similar development, Franck Derose, an American and executive director, The Condom Project, during the conference said the upsurge in HIV infection in Nigeria can be attributed to stiff socio -cultural practices and norms. He said Nigeria among other African countries view condoms as a secret possession that must not be discussed or displayed openly.

"Our project is all about raising awareness about condoms. We don't encourage sex or even talk about sex. But we go about this task by sensitising people on the need for society or communities to identify with the condom. It's just a harmless piece of rubber that can prevent so many undesirable situations. Already, we have correspondent offices in Pakistan, Thailand, India, Ethiopia, Burkina-Faso, and Togo where we carry out sensitisation work to remove stigmatisation on condoms," he said.

Perhaps one of the most controversial fallout of the conference was the accusation of NACA and the Gowon Center of alleged miss-use of funds from the Global Funds. A development alleged to have led to the expulsion of Nigeria from the list of countries entitled to foreign aid from Global Fund. But Chairman of the National Action Committee on Aids (NACA), Professor Babatunde Osotimehin in his reaction said that at no time did NACA mis-manage foreign aids from Global Funds.

He said that much of the problem regarding the use of funds was as a result of poor communication between the Global Fund and NACA.Let me state clearly here that NACA never mis-managed Global Funds aids. What happened was that there seemed to be a communication gap between NACA and Global Funds at some point. And we appreciate that much. What Global Funds targeted and told us was to give ARV treatment to 27,000. As at the end of September, we had provided ARV for the treatment of 17,000 patients. We are sorr y we are not in position to draw down on the 27,000 target."

Still on the stead of controversies of alleged mis-management of funds from Global Fund and conjectured expulsion of Nigeria from the list of countries to benefit from future aid from the UN body, many interested parties have had course to speak out on the issue. Many of the views expressed as rejoinders rather than corroborate allegations on the ground, simply went the other way to fuel more challenges about what is true or false about Nigeriaý­s fate and the alleged delisting of Nigeria or NACA from Global Funds aids.

One of such key refutals about whether Nigeria or NACA was expelled from accessing future grant was addressed by one of the stakeholders, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, Head of Global Partnerships in Nigeria. According to him. "I did not at any time, ether in my presentation at the leadership forum at the International Conference on AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in Africa, or in my response to questions from the media afterwards, say that Nigeria was or has been suspended from the Global Fund. Nigeria has not been suspended from Global Fund. As a responsible official and representative of the Global Fund, I did not and could not possibly have made a statement I know to be untrue."

In a related refutation on the allegations of mis-management of funds said to be credited to Global Funds, the agency's chief of operations (COO), Mr. Bradford Herbert, before his retirement last month also denied insinuations of financial impropriety by the Osotimehin led NACA team of experts. According to a rejoinder, wired electronically to Nigeria, Mr. Bradford said he was shocked that allegations of financial mis- conduct were being peddled in Nigeria over a report allegedly credited to the Global Fund.

"In Nigeria, the issue of mismanagement and corruption was not an issue and I believe the reporter was doing a disservice to those who are working hard to address the important issues such as HIV/AIDS epidemic," he said.

Although the last but one ICASA strove to focus on the traditional African family values hence mirroring the theme "HIV/AIDS and the Family", it is yet to be known in concrete terms what the full benefits of hosting of the event has been for Nigerians as a nation. For PLWHAs, the story is however different because through sheer determination, they were able to convince President Olusegun Obasanjo to approve administering of free ARV to HIV patients. This feat was achieved by women living with HIV/AIDS after staging a peaceful protest to drive home their demand for free ARV treatment nationwide.

No doubt, the decision of the Federal Government to accommodate about a hundred more people living with HIV/AIDS in its free HIV treatment scheme with effect from January 2006 is commendable if that promise is kept. Minister of Health, Prof. Eyitayo Lambo explained that the gesture by the Federal Government was in response to vehement demands by a coalition of women living with HIV/AIDS during the ICASA conference. The women, hundreds of them from across Africa and beyond staged peaceful protests calling on Obasanjo to commence free treatment programme for all HIV positive victims in the country as a way of mitigating high mortality among infected persons.

While Assumpta Ngozi Reginald, one of the leading light in the Association of Women Living With HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (ASWHAN), believes that ICASA was useful in exposing participants to diverse new discoveries and experiences on HIV/AIDS, she however expressed genuine fears that unless the gains of the conference are allowed to trickle down to all strata of society particularly the rural communities, the gains of the conference may be lost on all.

"Part of the gains of attending ICASA, for me, was the opportunity to meet with women from across Africa and other parts of the world, who are equally HIV-positive like me. We shared experiences and learnt a lot from each other. We particularly learnt a lot from Kenya, South Africa and Uganda experiences in terms of what they have done to reduce spread of HIV to almost zero level. And this they achieved through constant sharing of information and provision of counseling and care facilities. But again, let me say that unless government and health reform groups work hard to spread the knowledge gained to the rural areas, so that they too can benefit, we would appear to be making a journey without end because those in the rural areas lack information, care and counseling", Assumpta said.

 
Still on modalities to consolidate on the gains of the AIDS conference, Assumpta canvassed the need for production of documentaries in as many local dialect as possible, to enable have a feel of the importance of that conference.

Despite some of the lapses that one noticed during the conference, such as scarcity of accommodation and inability of organisers to effectively take care of volunteers and some guests, I believe the conference was very useful. For me, after I contacted the disease at a hospital in Jos in 1998, through injection with an infected syringe, I didn't know the importance of adherence to drugs. I use to take my drugs only when I felt like. This usually led to allergies like heavy itching on my skin, constant cough, stooling and all. These all discomforted me a lot. But since I attended the conference I now know the importance of taking my drugs as at when due to avoid adverse reactionsý, she said.