Women Want FG to Make HIV Screening Mandatory For Men

A Women Group, G-7 Achievers Initiative, have called on the Federal Government to make Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), screening for men, especially in the northern part of the country mandatory.

Coordinator of the Group, Hajia Rabi Dauda made the call in Abuja on Monday during the documentary screening on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) organised by Aid Healthcare Foundation (AHF). She said the call necessary to curb the spread of the disease in the country.

“One of the most important challenges we are having in the North is the ability of the husbands to allow their wives go for HIV screening and ante-natal, especially in the communities where I come from, which is northern Nigeria.

“Even when the wife accepts to come for screening and test positive, the husbands do not want to come. So, it is difficult to continue with the treatment because if the wife and the child are now on treatment, the man is not on treatment and she is still married to the man” she said.

“We need more advocacy. Let’s go to the grassroots; we don’t have to wait for them to come to us. We must go and mobilise them from the community, we must get the community leaders to talk to them to come out for screening and treatment.

“We have approached a community leader before, who assembled everybody in the community, we got everyone screened, those ones that tested positive are now on treatment,” she said.