An Open Letter To Chioma Igbokwe Of The Daily Sun Newspaper

Dear Chioma Igbokwe,

In the 19th of August, 2017 article titled HIV EPIDEMIC LOOMS  you brought to the attention of the readership world a very important issue which, unfortunately is not given its due diligence. HIV/AIDS still looms large on the African continent. It has impacted all ranges of life. It has touched on the ways we deal with our own fears, ills and misfortunes as a collective humanity. 

HIV has made many of us advocates in one way or another. One common thread for all advocates is the need to eradicate it. Eradicating HIV is also dependent on a chain of actors. It is also dependent on a chain of enablers (or disablers). 

There are four downstream contexts your article should have mentioned too. Empowering grassroots with sexually active youth to negotiate for safer sex; provision of safer sex prophylactics; addressing an HIV service disparity that is common not only in Nigeria but other African countries; lastly, the average age of the demography you wrote about is a younger population group. Youth-friendly service points are few and far apart in many African countries. So, these young persons came up with what they felt would provide a motivating setting to engage younger people in learning HIV Prevention skills to pass on to other peers. 

How can African countries empower communities in which sexually active persons are able to negotiate for safer sex? That would have been an editorial question you should have put out for all of us. The Sun Newspaper is a respectable paper, am sure it has scribes capable of writing what stimulates action to eradicate HIV.

Source: Google