AHF advocates safety in romance

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Nigeria, in collaboration with the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) and the United Nations Population Fund Nigeria (UNFPA) will host a Twitter-Space on February 12. A panel discussion would be held on the 13^th where a creative competition on safe sex would be adjudged as workable strategies to promote safe sex among the population are also examined. Partners shall partake in live radio discussions to provide needed education to the public.

Indeed, AHF has planned lively in-person and virtual commemorative “Always in Fashion” ICD events throughout our 45- country teams to highlight the importance of condoms and help people take control of their health through access to safer sex education and free or affordable condoms.

In a statement, AHF Nigeria offers advice: “Put on your latex party caps and get ready to share some LOVE with that special someone in your life because International Condom Day (ICD) 2023 has arrived! ICD is a tradition at AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), and we’re famous for putting on exciting, eye-catching ‘Always in Fashion’ events.

It continued: “Condom advocacy is more vital than ever,with more than 1 million sexually transmitted infections acquired daily across the globe and the world falling woefully short on HIV prevention goalsin 2021. But we can turn the tide byworking to ensure people worldwidecan access condoms wherever they live – as condoms remain the most affordable way to prevent HIV, other STIs, and unplanned pregnancies!

“Knowledge about HIV and STI prevention among adolescent is generally low, in this regard, we see the need to educate them about the importance of practicing safe sexand by ensuring we make the commodity easily accessible to the population” said Dr. EcheyIjezie, AHF Nigeria Country Program Director.

“It has become important to ensure condom option is made available as a preventive measure to youths and people of reproductive age who may not abstain from sex given the rate of new HIV infections among young people aged 15-24 years,which calls for strengthened age and context-specific programming in this population” said Dr. GamboAliyu, Director General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA)’’.

Condom use has significantly impacted the global HIV/AIDS response, averting an estimated 117 million new HIV infections since 1990, with close to half in sub-Saharan Africa and more than one-third in Asia and the Pacific. However, millions of people globally are still without access to condoms due to many reasons across various parts of the world.

“People want the ability to prevent HIV, other STIs, and unplanned pregnancies – but that becomes much more challenging if widespread condom stockouts, shortages, harmful taxation, and unaffordable prices continue,” said Terri Ford, AHF Chief of Global Advocacy and Policy. “AHF has put condoms and STI prevention at the top of our global priorities to intensify our efforts to get condoms to people throughout our 45 country teams despite the many existing barriers. We encourage everyone to help us promote safer sex!”

View more information on AHF’s International Condom Day at LoveCondoms.org.