Stakeholders' Workshop
Building Resilience to HIV/AIDS among Smallholder
Farmers in Benue State, Nigeria

10-11 May 2006, AMINU ISA KOTANGORA ARTS THEATRE, MAKURDI

Background

HIV/AIDS is now reaching epidemic proportions in West Africa: According to WHO (2004) prevalence rates are more than 5% in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo. In all these countries it is the rural poor, with inferior education, who live far away from medical centers and depend on subsistence farming for their survival, that are the most vulnerable to the impacts of this epidemic. Furthermore, there are disproportionately more women infected with HIV in all countries of West Africa. In Nigeria, for example, there are currently 1.9 million women (58%) out of a total of 3.3 million people who are currently living with HIV/AIDS. The incapacitation and untimely, tragic deaths of these women is having a detrimental impact on household food security and is leading to a generation of rootless, traumatized, orphaned children.

Several West African countries (namely Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo) are involved in the WHO/UNAIDS Initiative to get more HIV/AIDS-affected people into drug therapy. However few rural people are currently accessing the life-saving Anti-Retroviral drugs (ARV). This is because rural people do not know their HIV/AIDS status, live far away from health centers and are often malnourished¹.
 

Building resilience to HIV/AIDS using the 3 Tenets of Positive Living

The Workshop Objectives

This workshop is part of a series of activities being planned by the CGIAR Systemwide Initiative on HIV/AIDS (SWIHA) and CABI Bioscience to empowering communities at risk and HIV/AIDS-affected farming communities in West Africa. The planned activities within the project “Building Resilience to HIV/AIDS among Smallholder Farmers in West Africa” will provide rural communities with information on how to implement the three tenets of Positive Living that build resilience to HIV/AIDS. Communities will use this information to compile their own action plans to fight the pandemic.

1. To explain and discuss the SWIHA/CABI/WARDA project – “Building resilience to HIV/AIDS among smallholder farmers in Nigeria”, with Nigerian partners and potential donors.

2. To select vulnerable communities and communities at risk in Benue Sate that can benefit from this project.

3. To link with local partners who are working in community health and agricultural extension.

4. To identify extension and NGO partners that can provide community workers who can be trained as Positive Living Facilitators.

5. To identify NARS scientists who can assist with baseline data collection and impact assessment.

6. To identify donors who are willing to fund this project.
    

Expected Outcome

1. Local partners become familiar with the aims, objectives and desired outcome of the project

2. Strong links are forged between all partners willing to assist in the implementation of the project

3. Vulnerable communities are selected and planned project discussed with partners and their inputs obtained

4. Donors who may be willing to fund the project are identified.

Participants

Farmers’ and Community leaders, community-based organizations (CBOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), people living with AIDS (PLWAs), representatives from Ministries of Health and Agriculture, agricultural development projects (ADP), research institutions and donor representatives

Sponsors

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

Contact persons
Mrs Florence Abeda
Benue State Agricultural & Rural Development Authority
P M B 102125, Makurdi
Email: yuhengi@yahoo.com

Mrs. Annmarie Kormawa, SWIHA Co-ordinator,
Africa Rice Center (WARDA), 01 B.P. 2031, Cotonou, Benin
Email: a.kormawa@cgiar.org
Tel: ++ 229 35 01 88
Fax: ++ 229 35 05 56
www.warda.org

Dr. Sam L J Page, Farmer-participatory and HIV/AIDS mitigation specialist,
CABI Bioscience, Bakeham Lane, Egham, Surrey, TW20 9TY, UK
Email: s.page@cabi.org
Tel: ++ 44 (0) 1491 829019
Fax: ++ 44 (0) 1491 829100
www.cabi-bioscience.org

1. ARV must be administered on a full stomach