Today is the World AIDS Day, which was first held in 1998 as a laudable attempt to create an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people, who have died of the epidemic.The theme of the 2011 World AIDS Day is Getting to Zero-Zero AIDS-Related Deaths. It is important to note that the major significance of the Day is for individuals to learn the facts about HIV and put your knowledge into action. It therefore means that enlightenment is the cardinal strategy for setting the day aside. I must also add that in the spirit of the day, it has been concluded that although the World AIDS Day is a great opportunity to get the public talking about HIVwe need to remember the importance of raising awareness of HIV all year round. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that if the world must achieve Zero-AIDS-Related Deaths as envisaged, enlightenment plays an indispensable role.In line with the foregoing noble intention, as a social empowerment advocate, who has in the last fourteen years pursued with an audible passion and single-mindedness the vision to bring to the very front burner of private and public consciousness the rights and responsibilities of children for due respect, I wish to lend my voice to the need for an all-year-round enlightenment on HIV/AIDS, particularly as it concerns my primary area of interest, children. It has been my conclusion over the years that in addressing social issues in modern society, enlightenment is superior to enforcement. Why' Enlightenment deals with prevention while enforcement deals with cure or at best, early intervention. It is a common saying that prevention is better than cure.Before you conclude that the matter of HIV/AIDS does not directly affect the African Child, join me to consider these startling facts as published on the website of The Child Rights Information Network:As of December 2005, 40.3 million people were living with HIV, of which 2.3 million were children.4.9 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2005, of which 700,000 were children under 15 years.There were 3.1 million AIDS-related deaths in 2005, of which 570,000 were children under 15 years.Every 14 seconds, another parent dies of AIDS, leaving behind an orphaned child.Every month, 250,000 children and young people become infected with HIV in Africa; the social and economic devastation caused by HIV/AIDS in the last decade is greater than the combined destruction of the continents wars: an estimated 200,000 Africans, most of them women and children, died as a result of conflicts in which more than two million people were killed by AIDS.The network goes further to give a clue to the leading cause of the situation above as it concludes that it is the combination of stigma, taboo and silence that fuels the epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.In view of the foregoing, permit me to conclude that the real scourge therefore is not HIV/AIDS. I beg to declare that the real scourge, which the world must face squarely, is ignorance, which is a fertile breeding ground for stigma, taboo and silence. If I have your permission to make the foregoing submission, may it please you to allow me to proceed with a quick advocacy on the right of children and young people to HIV/AIDS education.I believe that the strength of the advocacy for the right of the child and young persons to HIV/AIDS education flows from their right to education in general, guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Childs Rights Act, 2003. The Act outlines as one of the four baskets of right of the child as the right to development. The right to education stands stoutly under the basket of the rights of the child to education. Please note that by the provision of the law a child is anyone below the age of eighteen.My attempt to read HIV/AIDS education into the right of the Nigerian child to education as guaranteed by the foregoing legislation is fortified by my strong faith in the law as an instrument of social engineering as popularised by Roscoe Pound. The law, therefore, has a significant role to play in the crusade of the generality of our people to demystify and eradicate HIV/AIDS, particularly as it affects the Nigerian child.Few years ago, a committee on HIV/AIDS and education, met in Elmina, Ghana. The crux of the resolution was that HIV/AIDS be taught as a subject in secondary schools within the West African sub-region. The Ghana office of the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation put the proposal for the resolution together and it was actively supported by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. A report on the said resolution concluded thus: The major resolutionof the conference would witness multilateral bodies such as the West African Examinations Council developing curriculum and learning materials for member-states for the teaching of HIV/AIDS in schools in the sub-region.However, checks show that this resolution has not been fully implemented by the Nigerian government. A large percentage of Nigerian children are still pitifully ignorant of the facts about the epidemic. Report has it that books on reproductive health education for secondary school pupils and on AIDS education for upper primary schools were produced. More than two yearsthe books have yet to be distributed to schools. The impact of such a delay is difficult to measure.The late Professor Olikoye Ransome Kuti gave a clue to why HIV/AIDS education is important when he said that, Social research has found out among others, that youths are the epicentre of HIV transmission largely because of ignorance. Young people, although crave tobe informed, nobody tells them anything: not even government, the church or parents.Two fundamental facts are discernible from the foregoing submission:1. That children constitute a large constituency of the most affected by the HIV/AIDS.2. That ignorance is the reason for their falling cheap victims to the epidemic.Given this, it has become paramount for the government to implement in full force the above resolution that advocates HIV/AIDS education as a subject in secondary schools. Taking this step will be the antidote to the spread of the epidemic. The government by doing this will be giving ventilation to Article17 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which provides that, State partiesshall ensure that the child has access to information and materialsespecially those aimed at the promotion of his or her well-being, physical and mental healthWhat is the nature of education that I advocate today' It is the kind of education, which combines the knowledge of HIV/AIDS with life skills and addresses frontally value building and reorientation issues. It has been said that 90 per cent of HIV/AIDS cases are recorded through sexual immorality. Please note that involvement in sexual immorality or otherwise is primarily a function of a child or young persons understanding of his or her sexuality. A child or young persons understanding of his sexuality is dependent on his or her value system. His or her ability to avoid premature/premarital sex and sexual abuse and harassment is largely dependent on his or her life skills. Time will fail me to delve into the subject of life skills in totality.It is time for Nigeria to follow the good example of Kenya, which few years ago in response to the scourge of HIV/AIDS which killed 500 people daily introduced in all schools and collegesspecial lessons aimed at educating children about HIV/AIDS and their sexuality.The Kenyan child is better off for that decision today. It is time to save the Nigerian child from the devastation of the HIV/AIDS scourge through the instrumentality of knowledge, the most effective tool of mind empowerment and emancipation. Shalom!Akinlami, a social empowerment advocate wrote in from Taiwo Akinlami INSPIRES, 12, Aba Johnson Crescent, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, 234-803-362-0843, 234-818-683-0275, Principal@taiwoakinlami.com
Click here to read full news..
