The National Aids Control Program (NACP) says over 3,616 adolescent girls and young women are carriers of HIV/AIDS in Liberia.
NACP’s Director, Jonathan Flomo, has disclosed that as of June, 2022, the NACP had about 3,616 adolescent girls and young women who are currently on treatment for HIV.
He said that the number speaks volume, thereby calling on the population to look at the positivity rate amongst adolescent girls and young women.
“Having tested about 17, 000 persons; of that number, 460 persons were found positive in terms of adolescent girls and young women. If you see, the positivity rate is very high and we are about three-forth (¾) almost double the national prevalence rate, so it tells you that these are people who you are supposed to work with,” Flomo noted.
He added that over the past years, the NACP has seen an increase of stigma and discrimination amongst vulnerable groups and key population who have been involved in the work the NACP is doing as a program.
Flomo called on the government, the donor community and other partners to pay attention to these vulnerable adolescent girls and key population groups pointing out at the studies showing that prevalence amongst other key population is very high.
He then pledged the NACP’s support to the Network and called on service providers to make their facilities have Key population friendly so that vulnerable persons and key populations can have access and feel comfortable at accessing care at those facilities.
“We have been working closely with all of these institutions to make sure services are provided in a way and manner young women who are part of our vulnerable population can feel comfortable accessing these services,” Flomo explained.
The Director of the National Aids Control Program Dr. Jonathan Flomo pledged the NACP’s support to the Network.
According to him, forming a Network is good of this initiative because there are lots of vulnerable people in the communities including adolescent girls and key populations.
The revelation from the NACP stirred mixed views amongst the young people attending the program and in separate interviews, they squarely placed the blame on the government for not making access to SRHR service available.
Also, speaking for the young people, Courage Taewohn said young women are vulnerable because of the limited access to proper sexuality education stressing that there are laws that mandate the government to ensure that young people have access to SRHR products and services.
Also, Patience Daniels said if parents are opened in telling everything about their sexuality to their children, they wouldn’t be considered vulnerable and then blamed poor parenting and other community practices that prevent them from accessing SRHR products.
“Most of us do not have the time to sit with our parents to discuss some of the things we are talking about here. Our parents are so busy and don’t have time to tell us anything about SRHR,” she said.
Daniels pointed out that most of the things young people know about SRHR are learned from the peers, or movies and maybe social media.
The Amplifying Rights Network was launched with support from the Swedish Embassy in Liberia. In closing, the head of the network, Naomi Tulay Sulonke, said SRHR issues need to be approached as a developmental issue.
“We approach SRHR in a wider development context one in which the empowerment of adolescent girls is of critical importance so that they can exercise their SRHR. Adolescent girls need access to improved SRHR information and services to be able to participate in the social development and economic life of their countries, as well as for improved quality of life,” Daniels said.
