By Asma’u Ahmad
No fewer than 160 health care providers are undergoing a four-day training on youth friendly health service in Kaduna state.
The Director of the state Agency for the control of AIDS (KADSACA), Ms. Juliana Bungon, stated this while addressing newsmen at the opening of the training on Monday in Kaduna.
Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i
According to Ms. Bungon, the training is aimed at reaching out to youths living with HIV in communities in the friendliest way.
“We are training these health care providers to become friendly with HIV \AIDS patient, especially the youth in health facilities in various communities. We want to make it accessible and acceptable to the youth in the community, because services are available in the health care facilities but yet prevented due to bad attitude of the
service providers,” she said.
According to her, the participants are drawn from the 255 wards of the three senatorial zones in the state.
“We are aware of the upgrading of one health facility per ward by the government that is why we brought participants from the facilities to train them.”
She said it was the hope of the agency to reduce the prevalence rate among youths in the state where the virus was spreading.
“Generally, the prevalence rate in the state has been dropping, but rising among youths and is the commonest cause of deaths among them. There is good response and this has affected us positively in the state such that we are looking at the prevalence of two per cent now, even though presently there is a research going on at the actual prevalence rate,” she added.
Newsmen report that the training is organised by KADSACA in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
