The leadership of the World Council of Churches together with the Christian Council of Nigeria, CCN has expressed worries over alleged increase in HIV/AIDS transmission especially among school children, youths as well as women in Nigeria.
The chairman of the HIV/AIDS program of the world council of churches based in Geneva, Rev. Godson Lawson Kpavuvu spoke with journalists shortly after a 4days capacity building workshop for students selected from various schools in Ebonyi state.
The workshop was organized by Christian council of Nigeria, CCN, in collaboration with world council of Churches, ecumenical HIV/AIDS initiatives and advocacy, WCC-EHAIA, had a theme: “HIV prevention action for youth, Sunday school teachers, women and young pastors, to achieve the 3 zero objectives in Bayelsa and Ebonyi”.
The workshop took place at the Methodist cathedral of the Holy Trinity, TMC, diocese of Abakaliki, Ebonyi state,
Kpavuvu who is the President of Methodist Church in Togo noted that the world council of churches had trained over twenty thousand (20,000) leaders of various churches in African continent on HIV/AIDS issues especially on how to prevent stigmatization and discrimination of victims of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.
He further stated that the world council of churches had facilitated healthcare and counselling to HIV positive/AIDS victims in 53 African countries.
According to him: “From the beginning, the world council of churches trained about twenty thousand (20,000) leaders of various churches on HIV/AIDS issues especially on its stigmatization, discrimination, and also counselling on its preventive measures in order to have a competent church leaders who can respond to HIV/AIDS issues.
“We realized that at the end of the day, one of the vulnerable populations in the church is the adolescents and now we are trying to reorganize our training model’s to address more of the increasing rate of HIV/AIDS among the adolescents.
“The world council of churches HIV/AIDS programs have trained people in about 53 African countries. We are also in Asia continent, Nomadic among other continents of the world.
“We have those who are HIV positive victims and those who are AIDS victims. Many of them have suffered from severe trauma, stigmatization and we are facilitating healthcare and counselling to them through our communication channels” he stated.
In a swift reaction, the chairman of the Christian Council of Nigeria, CCN, who was represented by the general secretary, Very. Rev. Evans Onyemara said “We are here in Ebonyi state to reinforce the campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.
“People no longer talk about the spread of HIV/AIDS, and the issue of COVID-19 has dominated every other thing, making people to slack on the campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.
“The work we are doing in the area of HIV/AIDS is to ensure that, we achieve the 3 zero objectives of the united nations in the area of HIV and AIDS, which are: zero new infections by 2030, zero AIDS related deaths by 2030, and zero discrimination by 2030.
