By Chioma Obinna

 As part of the activities marking 2016 World AIDS Day, the Nigerian Red Ribbon Coalition, a strategic public-private sector alliance, is set to directly provide free HIV Testing Services (HTS) for 18,000 persons as well as reach over 5 million people with correct HIV/AIDS information.   The coalition, convened by Coca-Cola Nigeria, comprises Youth Empowerment Foundation, YEF, Youth Empowerment and Development Initiative, YEDI, Society for Family Health, SFH, Join the Cast, and various private sector partners.

To achieve this, the coalition, in its second year, is targeting multiple communities across 11 states in Nigeria, including Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Edo, Enugu, FCT Abuja, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, and Oyo, with a combination of activities like  media awareness, voluntary counselling and testing, public education and awareness sessions and a novelty celebrity football match.

The Red Ribbon Anti-Stigma and Anti-Discrimination campaign, which benefitted over 9,000 persons across four Nigerian states last year, plans to leverage the combined wealth of experience and geographical spread of its members during the weeklong community HTS across various communities in the states involved.

The campaign will also harnessed the power of celebrity advocacy to create awareness on major public health issues by converging leading stars in Nigeria’s football, music, comedy and movie industry to work together as advocates for the fight against stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV during the celebrity Novelty Match, last Saturday at Campos Square, Lagos Island.

Other plans include integrating new initiatives into the campaign including female celebrity open placard display, fundraising for children orphaned by the disease and stimulation of a broader stakeholder involvement, and various impactful activities targeted at reaching many Nigerians with free HIV/AIDS services to mark this year’s event which is commemorated globally on December 1 every year.

At a media parley/symposium in Lagos attended by ex-Super Eagles Star, Emmanuel Babayaro, and  Mr. Ibrahim Umoru, Executive Director, Lagos State Chapter of the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, the coalition’s convener, Emeka Mba, said: “This year, we are building on the successes made at the inaugural edition last year by mobilizing and sensitizing people to know their status with the provision of free HIV testing services in a friendly environment”.

Mba, who is also the Community Affairs Manager, Coca-Cola, explained that the campaign will be tackling issues of stigmatization, discrimination and fear of getting tested, promoting social inclusion and adequate care for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and stimulating a larger stakeholder involvement, as no individual, government, or organisation can singlehandedly make meaningful progress in the fight against HIV/AID.

On her part, YEF’s Executive Director, Mrs. Iwalola Akin-Jimoh, noted that apart from the direct beneficiaries of HIV Testing Services, there were also plans to reach about 5million people with up-to-date HIV/AIDS information via various platforms, while also covering the area of Prevention of Mother-to-child Transmission, PMTCT.

YEDI’s Executive Director, Anu Ishola, noted that the pan-Nigeria coalition will leverage each party’s strength and network and also celebrity advocacy which according to her are a better way of pushing back the scourge. “When you have a strategic alliance that boasts of credible NGOs like SFH, YEF and YEDI and other private sector partners, and a star-studded Novelty match which will feature ex-Super Eagle Stars like Emmanuel Babayaro among others, then the stage is set for reaching out to a large spectrum of Nigerians as far as HIV testing, counselling and awareness are concerned.”

Other celebrities expected at the Novelty March according to the coalition’s include veteran comedian Atunyota Alleluya Akporobomerere aka Alibaba, movie stars like Ini Edo, Chioma Chukwura, Veteran indigenous musician, 9ice, Sound Sultan, and a host of others.

She added that the celebrity novelty match will provide an environment conducive to a large turnout of young people to access free HIV testing services while being treated to a rare but entertaining game of soccer alongside music, light refreshment and other fun activities.