By Yinka Otoki
Faced with the uphill task of trying to persuade Nigerian private companies not to discriminate against people with HIV, Olusina Falana has come up with an imaginative plan.
The idea is to send a person living with the virus into a company to show its managers and workers they have nothing to fear, and to encourage others who may be HIV-positive to be open about their situation.
The former nurse with a higher degree in primary health care is the head of the Nigerian Business Coalition Against AIDS (NIBUCCA), set up by the government to help prevent the spread of the disease and to counter discrimination of workers in private companies.
According to Falana, discrimination and stigmatisation of those with HIV is widespread, especially in the private sector, and it has become increasingly difficult for many to declare their status for fear of losing their jobs.
Falana, who is also on the board of trustees of the South Africa-based Pan-African Business Coalition Against AIDS, has visited many organisations preaching on the need for them to have an HIV/AIDS policy in the work place. The response has not been encouraging, as only 40 companies, a tiny proportion of the total, have joined the NIBUCCA so far.
In order to encourage those in the work place to freely declare their HIV status, NIBUCCA, in collaboration with some willing member companies, has begun a programme called Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV and AIDS (GIPA).
Under the programme a GIPA officer, a person who is openly living with the virus, is sent to the work place to become the face of HIV there. Ordinarily they are not an employee of that company, but their assignment is to encourage or influence those living with the virus to be open about their status.
At present some 12 GIPA officers are on secondment to 10 private firms, out of the 40 registered members.
Falana’s greatest satisfaction is to see people benefiting from some of the programmes he has put in place, and being able to provide technical assistance to those in need of it.
“When people come to you for technical assistance and you are able to provide it, you have a sense of fulfilment,” he said.
Yinka Otoki is a journalist with 'Voice of Nigeria' . This article is part of a series from alumni of the Thomson Reuters Foundation HIV/AIDS reporting course in Bangkok, 10-14 November. Any opinions are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.