Private sector help needed for AIDS

In an effort to prevent HIV/AIDS from sapping its economic lifeblood, Nigeria has urged the private sector to make a greater contribution to combating the disease. The most recent official figures show that 5.4 percent of Nigeria's more than 126 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Babatunde Osotimehin, the head National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA), told Agence France-Presse that companies should provide HIV/AIDS prevention education to the country's workforce, as well as counselling and medical care. Osotimehin said: "We are not asking for money from the OPS [organised private sector], but collaboration, using their core competencies."