ASWHAN, UN Women Empower Young Nigerians

The Association of Women Living With HIV and AIDS in Nigeria (ASWHAN) in partnership with UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women have trained adolescent and young women living with HIV to champion the course and needs of adolescent and young women with HIV.

Through that training, the step-down training reached 1000 women and girls, created visibility, and repositioned ASWHAN to address its mandate on Gender-Based Violence prevention and stigma reduction.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja during the closing session of A 4-day training of Trainers Workshop for Adolescent and Young Women Living with HIV drawn from 12 states, ASWHAN national coordinator, Reginald Assumpta, said the training would empower them as advocates who will champion the course and needs of adolescent and young women living with HIV.

“This concluded workshop is a result of this consistent engagement and support of UN Women. This effort at building the capacities of 24 young adolescent girls and women living with HIV drawn from women-led support groups in 12 pilot states is strategic.

“Trainees need to work closely with the previously trained state coordinators to move the advocacy agenda forward in their various states.

“These trainings are not done in silos: they are expected to reach the goals identified in the ASWHAN five years strategic plan and contribute actively to ending the AIDS pandemic in 2030,” she said.

Assumpta lauded UNWomen for their continued support and urged other organizations to emulate them.

On her part, the representative of the country director, UN Women to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Patience Ekeoba said UN Women was created to support women, adding that the body is determined not to live anybody behind. She said HIV is not something of the past, adding that there is still a lot of work to be done.