Valentine-Groups caution youths on HIV/AIDS

February 14, 2007 :: Kingsley Nwezeh,Asaba, ThisDay,Lagos

Ahead of preparations for the celebration of Saint Valentine's day, groups campaigning against HIV/AIDS yesterday cautioned youths against using the occasion to engage in unhealthy sexual practices.

Speaking at the sensitisation campaign organised by the Youth Network on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NYNETHA), to mark the first Delta State Saint Valentine's Celebration in Asaba, Chairman of the programme, Mr James Omokili of the Sweet Word International, a Non-Governmental Organisation, said there was the need for youth to abstain from indiscriminate sex life styles, warning that a deviation from this could hamper national growth.

He said the ceremony was meant to project activities geared towards providing a critical mass information and education through a multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-sectoral dialogue on HIV/AIDS.

According to him "one life must be saved this Valentine period. Love does not mean sex, and for this reason, this body is desirous of going to places to save lives, even within the remote areas."

Mrs Grace Uzoka of the community mobilisation office of the Delta state Action Committee on AIDS (DSACA), said positive action in the fight against HIV/AIDS must be centralised within the three senatorial zones and extended to the hinterlands, to guarantee reach, particularly in the riverine areas of the state.

On her part, Major Samson Elujinwa (rtd), Director, Doubru Medical Laboratory Services, Boji Boji Owa in Ika North-east Local Government Area said youth remained the socially active segment of the society and must be guided with positive and sound sex education, to assist them embrace the necessary changes useful for them .

The four-day activity featured breakfast meeting with key youth stakeholders and religious leaders, Asaba Community Mobilization rally, media advocacy and awareness creation, recruitment of 50 young persons for peer education training workshop on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS issues including life building skills and resilience education and formation of Asaba Abstinence Forum, Zip Up Club, as well as launching of youth neighbourhood HIV/AIDS project.