The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) has launched the Youth Alive and Healthy (YAaH Naija) Innovation, which is a UNICEF-initiated intervention programme that is aimed at scaling up the uptake of high-impact HIV prevention tools.
The initiative is expected to deliver high-impact prevention intervention (HIV self-testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis) to the most vulnerable adolescents and young people while utilising U-report and other digital tools to mobilise and engage adolescents and young people for comprehensive HIV prevention knowledge activities.
Director-general of NACA, Dr. Aliyu Sambo, who made the remarks during the launch of the programme in Abuja, said the initiative was targeting adolescents and young people in the country, using the HIV safe test.
Represented by the assistant director in charge of community prevention and care, Dr. Ezinne Okey- Uchendu, he said “If we are able to get our interventions right for this target group, adolescents and young people will be able to reduce HIV infection in Nigeria.”
The national coordinator, AYPIN, Aaron Sunday, said the intervention is a movement for adolescents and young people, adding that it has activated all the blocks that are required for also addressing the HIV situation and response within the context of preventing and also closing the gaps.
The chief of health, UNICEF, Dr. Eduardo Celades, congratulated NACA for its national response to HIV, and especially for leading the adolescents for HIV response.
He expressed UNICEF’s continuous support for the youth and NIV response, “As UNICEF, we stand with youth. We stand with the HIV response. We stand with innovation. We stand with change. We are here for you. And this is not only one day, it’s a long-term commitment.”
