PEPFAR empowers people living with HIV
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Nigeria has commenced a novel initiative to educate and empower people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Nigeria.
The initiative, which is a collaboration between NEPWHAN (the Network of People living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria), National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), and the Federal Ministry of Health, under the National AIDS and STIs Control Programme (NASCP), is solely fully funded by PEPFAR.
According to a statement by the National Coordinator of NEPWHAN, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, the consideration for the initiative, known as Patient Education and Empowerment Plan (PEEP), which was launched in May 2021, evolved out of national dialogues, with a focus on the fact that PLHIV in PEPFAR and other supported facilities, including one-stop-shops (OSS), are largely uninformed about the package of services provided by the programs and their rights within the programs.
As such, they are vulnerable to financial and human rights exploitation and discrimination by unethical service providers.
PEEP is designed to ensure that people living with HIV, their Networks and Support Group leaders and members understand personal responsibility, know their rights and the package of care they could access freely.
The Plan is also to empower PLHIV to promote treatment education, protect their right to health, be adequately skilled to recognize and protect their members against rights violations, and be equipped to lead advocacy initiatives and engagements of their constituents.
The initiative also plans to set-up grievance management mechanisms at the facility, State and national levels that will enable PLHIV to report, mitigate and seek redress for incidences of human rights violations, including GBV.
Major activities of the PEEP include mapping and capacity assessment of PLHIV Support Groups across the country; Capacity building and support to NEPWHAN national, State and Support Group structures to develop and disseminate knowledge on Health Literacy, Health Rights, Capacity building and support to NEPWHAN National and State Coordinators/offices to set up a grievance reporting and feedback system.
This training, which is an integral part of the PEEP seeks to support NEPWHAN and its constituencies (ASWHAN and AYPIN), as well as inform and strengthen the capacity of Support Group leaders and members in 3 broad areas of the package of services currently supported within the National Treatment and PMTCT programs; Patient Rights, as guaranteed by the Patient Bill of Rights, 2015 Anti-discrimination Act, and other relevant documents; and Setting up of a Grievance There is also Communication and Redress Management System to support NEPWHAN in addressing emerging human rights violation issues.
The training curriculum, covering the aforementioned areas was jointly developed by a wide range of partners, drawn from NACA, NASCP, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNDP, WHO, NEPWHAN, Federal Ministry of Justice, National Human Rights Commission, CiHP and PEPFAR.
A one-week Training of Trainers (TOT) was thereafter conducted for leaders and members of NEPWHAN, ASHWAN AND APYIN, drawn from the national and regional offices in August 2021.
The step-down training for other members of the Network across the country was scheduled to hold back-to-back in 2 phases and on a regional basis for a period of one week per region. Phase 1, comprising North Central, South-South and South-East regions commenced in August, while phase 2 comprising South West, North West and North East zones will hold from October 2021.
The regional training commenced in Abuja for the North Central region on August 30, 2021, followed by the SouthSouth region on September 6, 2021, in Lagos, while the Southeast regional training will hold in Lagos from September 13 to 17, 2021. Participants at the regional training are members of the Network, 1 each drawn from NEPWHAN, ASWHAN and APYIN from each State of the federation.
