Oldest and youngest carry the AIDS burden

Sometimes when stooped and grey-haired Kuzonyawo Tanko picks up his hoe to walk to the fields and farm, he breaks down and cries at the misfortune that AIDS has brought on his family.

Kuzonyawo and his wife, Tani, raised six children but four have died in adulthood - one in an accident, the other three struck down by the killer AIDS virus.

The old man worked hard to put his children through school in Nigeria’s early days of independence. He had imagined that they would have been looking after him in his dotage, as is customary.

“When I was still strong… I hoped my kids would grow up and have good jobs like any other person. But things are now upside down,” said Kuzonyawo, whose name means ‘listen to my view’ in the local Gbagyi language.

Although the Nigerian HIV prevalence rate of 4.4 percent is by no means the highest on the continent, Nigeria’s massive population of 130 million people means that an estimated 3.8 million Nigerians are living with HIV. Only 60,000 are receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ARV), according to the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF.

That means HIV-positive Nigerians are dying young, often leaving behind dependents.

UNICEF estimates that 1.8 million Nigerian children have lost one, or both, parents to AIDS - more than in any other country in Africa. The responsibility of caring for AIDS orphans is pushing many extended families beyond their ability to cope, says UNICEF.

MANY MOUTHS TO FEED

Grieved Kuzonyawo, who is in his 70s and can’t read or write, also struggles to help care for 10 orphaned grandchildren. A farmer all his life, he can no longer tend as much land as he used to when he was younger. He relies on help from his wife, who is in her 60s.

The only regular wage earner in the entire family is Gloria Tanko, 45, one of Kuzonyawo’s two remaining offspring, herself a single mother of three. She provides the bulk of the income to feed, clothe and school her orphaned nephews and nieces.

Gloria works for the government as a health officer in an ante-natal clinic. Her basic salary of 20,000 naira (about US $150) a month is not enough to go around, she says.

“At times I have had to go and beg at their school so the children could stay in class until I get my salary,” she said.

The Tanko family is just one of millions of Nigerian families struggling to cope with the fallout of the African AIDS pandemic.

Sub-Saharan Africa has just 10 percent of the world’s population, but is home to 60 percent of the global HIV-positive population. Eight out of 10 children orphaned by AIDS are African, says UNICEF.

The Nigerian government recorded a slight drop in the HIV-infection rate in 2005, down from 5 percent in 2004 to 4.4 percent. But AIDS workers treat the figures with caution.

Hairdressing in New Karu, on the outskirts of the federal capital Abuja - a largely slum area where the capital's poor workforce live

“I don’t think these figures very accurately reflect the situation on the ground,” said UNICEF’s Joshua Emmanuel, project officer on HIV/ AIDS, based in Abuja. “I think we are seeing only the tip of the iceberg.”

And misconceptions about AIDS are still widespread. Nearly a quarter of all Nigerians believe that AIDS can be transmitted on toilet seats, according to surveys by UNICEF.

AN HIV HOT-SPOT

Kuzonyawo lives in New Karu, a sprawling community on the edge of the federal capital, Abuja, and one of Nigeria’s HIV-transmission hot-spots, say health workers.

“Here, the HIV rate is certainly increasing,” said Rufus Adeagbo, founder and director of Adolescent Action Pact (AAP), one of the few NGOs working on HIV/AIDS prevention and support in the area.

Adeagbo’s organisation provides free HIV testing facilities at three ante-natal clinics in New Karu. From test results there, he estimates that between 8 and 10 percent of the community is HIV-positive – more than double the national average.

AAP is a small NGO. Adeagbo provides much of its financing, channelling money earned from consultancy fees back into grassroots projects such as providing scholarships for AIDS orphans or free voluntary AIDS tests.

A large young and single population and high levels of alcohol consumption combine to make a potent environment for the spread of AIDS.

“Every shop here sells alcohol… partly it’s about pleasure, but it’s also about consolation – many people here are very depressed,” said Adeagbo.

Since Nigeria’s break with military governments in 1999, the elected government of President Olusegun Obasanjo established the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA). That organisation aims to effect 95 percent behavioural change by 2009.

In the same period, the government also wants to increase access to prevention, care, treatment and support services for all Nigerians to 50 percent.

AIDS workers like Adeagbo say it will take longer than three years to change people’s behaviour. His organisation is working with youth groups to train peer-educators and increase AIDS awareness before children become sexually active.

But a growing number of children in New Karu already know firsthand how devastating AIDS can be. One 14-year-old boy, who lost his father and then his mother to the virus last year, has decided to take direct action. He has three younger siblings.

“I want to be a doctor because doctors help those who are sick and I want to help those who are sick,” he said. “My father was sick and he died.”

To read Gloria Tanko's story, click HERE

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