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Impact
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© UNICEF Nigeria |
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Picture of an art painting by a National Youth Service Corp volunteer peer educator and trainer |
- Community dialogue in 125 communities has empowered members to make informed decisions and provide support to those infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
- It is estimated that over 7 million young people have been reached through the National Youth Service Corps scheme. Through its size and focused approach, the programme is crucial in changing attitudes and bringing about change in risky behaviour of many young people. An evaluation carried in 2006 concluded that this is probably ‘the most comprehensive youth focused intervention initiative in the country’ and the project that has ‘the widest coverage reaching every one of the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country.’
- Between January 2002 and December 2006, 414,655 corps members benefited from reproductive health and HIV prevention orientation. Within the same period, 22,195 volunteer corps members, trained as peer education trainers, were deployed to 10,612 secondary schools nation-wide.
- The implementation and monitoring of the National School Health Policy and the National Education Sector HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan has made it possible for over 300,000 learners to acquire knowledge and life skills for health promotion and HIV/AIDS prevention.
- The project for the prevention of mother-to-child-transmission of HIV/AIDS has contributed to improve the content and quality of prevention services in health facilities. Services have also been expanded from the initial tertiary health facilities to secondary and primary health facilities with a total of 364 sites delivering prevention services to pregnant women by end-2007. Of these, UNICEF currently gives direct support to 158 sites in 15 States and the Federal Capital Territory.
- The support provided by UNICEF includes capacity building of health workers on HIV Counselling and Testing, Infant Feeding, Management and Information Systems among others. Other support include the provision of equipment and supplies e.g. HIV test kits, computers, printers, needles, syringes, latex gloves, gynaecological gloves.
- In 2007, the national PMTCT programme reported that over 200,000 women were counselled and tested. However, it has been noted that this data does not capture all the ongoing activities in the country. Efforts are being made to improve reporting from the PMTCT facilities.
- The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs recently established a unit for orphans and vulnerable children in order to coordinate the implementation of the national action plan.
- In 2007, about 2,580 care givers, NGO staff and desk officers provided care and psychosocial support for 25,420 orphans and vulnerable children identified in the 36 states of the country.
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