The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of Aids, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, on Wednesday said 61 per cent of Nigerians newly infected with HIV/AIDS were women and young girls.
He said the situation called for massive mobilisation of women for them to know their rights and negotiate for safe sex if the statistics were to drop drastically.
Osotimehin spoke at a workshop to strengthen NACA�s relationship with the National Council of Women Society in Abuja.
He said, �We have to appreciate why it is important for women to be in the fore front of the battle against the spread of HIV/AIDS.
�Today, Africa houses 70 per cent of the HIV/AIDS infections, with 61 per cent of new infections in Nigeria involving women and young girls.
�Today, the burden of the disease in terms of care and support of those living with the virus is the responsibility of the women, across our continent. So, when you look at the statistics and you look at how the disease affects our women, it is important that we put women at the centre of the control of the virus.
�In our culture, it is hard for a wife to say no to her husband. We are talking here to women who are enlightened. But, when we go down to our homestead, where these women don�t have the education you have, it becomes even more difficult to negotiate for safe sex.�
He urged women to urgently engage their counterparts at the local government and state levels on the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS, notwithstanding the socio-cultural challenges.
Osotimehin said it was only when women were empowered to have a choice in sex affairs that the spread of the virus could be drastically reduced.
He said, �It is only when women are given the right information and empowered to have a say in safe sex that we can say that the journey towards taming the spread of the virus has indeed begun.
�Therefore, women must be agents of change and advocates within the respective communities for us to win this battle.�
The national president of the NCWS, Hajia Ramatu Usman, said, �It is in our collective interest to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS because we are the most infected and affected.
�We have about 250 groups that are affiliated to us and with all of them, we will carry the campaign to the grassroots.
�The body is not just composed of educated elite, but also includes the uneducated women in the rural areas. It is easier for us to penetrate the rural areas because we speak their language and they understand us more.�