Airtel Partners UNAIDS on HIV/AIDS

Telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has combined efforts with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS to support the National Agency for the Control of AIDS in an initiative to ensure that no child is born with HIV in Nigeria.

The partnership which was sealed through a Memorandum of Understanding signed today will allow the Telco’s subscribers to benefit from information on how and where to access prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services in Nigeria. The information shall be disseminated through innovative and regular text messages.

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, said the partnership will provide Airtel with a new opportunity to deepen its commitment to touching the lives of Nigerians positively, especially in the area of quality healthcare services delivery.

“At Airtel, we have a track record of supporting and empowering young people, who are the future leaders of our country. We have adopted and built schools for children; provided several interventions in the area of healthcare for hundreds of kids while our Touching Lives programme has even offered us a more elaborate platform to reach and connect with underprivileged children. Indeed, Airtel is intensely interested in impacting society positively as this underscores our corporate philosophy of becoming the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians,” Ogunsanya, said

Prof. John Idoko, Director General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS said NACA has worked in strong partnership with Airtel since 2005. This new partnership is a new extension of the valued support that UNAIDS and Airtel are providing to the HIV and AIDS response in Nigeria. Airtel’s decision to invest in keeping more children and mothers healthy is a much welcome intervention.

On her own, Dr. Bilali Camara, the UNAIDS Country Director for Nigeria and the UNAIDS Focal Point for the ECOWAS stated that eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV and keeping mothers alive does not only improve the wellbeing of children and their mothers. They impact positively on the general maternal and child survival.

In July 2011, a global plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive was launched at the United Nations General Assembly Meeting on AIDS. On its part, Nigeria unveiled a National Operational Plan in 2014 focused on eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and accelerating the implementation of similar efforts in the country.

The UNAIDS partnership with Airtel Nigeria lifts the company’s existing partnership with the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), other government departments and the Civil Society and it boosts Nigeria’s efforts at eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV.