Prevalence rates rise despite anti-AIDS messages

A new film funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is reaching millions of people in the northern part of Nigeria with important anti-AIDS messages. The film, called "Awakening", was shot on location in the northern state of Kano and is aimed at stimulating community dialogue on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The AIDS NGO, Family Health International (FHI) said the "alarming" spread of HIV/AIDS in the northern part of the country was cause for concern. Research shows that in Nigeria an estimated 5.8 percent of adults aged between 15 and 49, out of a population of 120 million, are living with HIV/AIDS. During the past two years a further 2.4 million people became infected with the HI virus. At the recent launch of the film, the FHI field programme manager, Mallam Adamu Imam, called for strengthened efforts in disseminating anti-HIV/AIDS messages, voluntary counselling and testing, and programmes for the prevention mother-to-child transmission of HIV.