By Eunice Nnachi
Stakeholders in the HIV response sector have called for sustained advocacy, increased public sensitization, and improved access to HIV education to reduce the stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV in Bayelsa State.
They also emphasized the need for continuous training of healthcare personnel, community-based awareness campaigns, and increased funding for HIV programmes to strengthen service delivery and support for affected persons across the state.
The stakeholders made the call during a Capacity Building Workshop on Strengthening the State Response Team on Gender and Human Rights (GHR) Programme and Development held in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
READ ALSO:
- NHRC Trains Law Enforcement, Leaders on HIV, TB Rights
- When Receipts Resurface: Inside the Peller–Jarvis Saga
The workshop, organized by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) in collaboration with the Bayelsa State Agency for the Control of AIDS (SACA), was aimed at assessing existing Gender and Human Rights programmes, identifying strengths and gaps, and addressing inequities in policies, programmes, and service delivery.
Speaking at the event, the South-South Zonal Coordinator of NACA, Mr. Nnamso Thomas, described the workshop as a strategic platform for stakeholders to deliberate on gender, legal, and human rights issues affecting the HIV response.
According to him, the gathering provided an opportunity to evaluate progress made so far, identify existing challenges, and develop practical strategies for addressing gaps in the state’s HIV response framework.
“It is a meeting to strengthen our capacity, assess our performance, identify gaps, and address gender, legal, and human rights issues in the state. We are here to review what has been achieved and determine what more needs to be done,” Thomas said.
In his opening remarks, the Project Manager of SACA, Mr. Charles Enuma, commended participants for their commitment and encouraged them to take advantage of the workshop to deepen their knowledge of HIV-related issues and contribute meaningfully to strengthening the state’s response efforts.
The five-day workshop focused on key thematic areas including the elimination of stigma and discrimination, promotion of non-discriminatory healthcare services, access to justice, rights-based law enforcement, reduction of gender-based discrimination and violence, legal literacy, policy reforms, community mobilization, and advocacy.
Participants drawn from various civil society organizations, including the Eunice Nnachi Women Advocacy Foundation (ENWAF), FACE Initiative, and Heros Foundation, stressed the importance of government support in addressing challenges within the HIV response system.
They urged the government to recruit more healthcare workers, provide adequate tools and resources for service delivery, and improve welfare packages for health personnel as incentives to enhance care for people living with HIV.
The participants further advocated a zero-tolerance approach to stigma and discrimination, noting that creating an enabling environment for people living with HIV is critical to achieving better health outcomes and ending the spread of the virus in the state.
They maintained that sustained collaboration among government agencies, development partners, healthcare providers, and civil society organizations remains essential to building an inclusive and effective HIV response system in Bayelsa State.
