There is need for more public advocacy and alliance building for the prevention of Mother- to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services in the country.
This was part of an eight-point communiqué issued at the end of a three-day Zonal Networking Meeting of Media Practitioners on Public Advocacy and Alliance Building for PMTCT services held at Villa Marina Hotel, Eket, Akwa Ibom State. Participants, who commended the Federal Government for collaborating with the United Nations Agencies to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, partionately advised pregnant mothers to access health facilities in order to avoid excruciating consequences arising from such conditions.
The Media Practitioners on the other hand advised state governments to provide enabling environment for free Ante-Natal Care (ANC) without further delay.
They noted that despite the remarkable increase in the number of PMTCT sites, the uptake of the service is still very low and therefore stressed the need for media organizations to give more attention to PMTCT issues in their programming and editorial comments.
Consequently, Journalists Alliance for PMTCT in Nigeria (JAPiN) was asked to explore ways of partnering with public and private media houses as well as other stakeholders in the country to intensify awareness creation on PMTCT issues.
While calling for concerted efforts from the stakeholders which included, JAPiN, to spread PMTCT guidelines on infant and young child feeding nationwide, the participants however commended UNICEF and the Akwa Ibom State Government for organizing the event.
Participants who were drawn from the four Joint United Nations Team on AIDS (JUNTA) states of Akwa Ibom, Benue, Cross River and Imo, basically brainstormed on the number of issues relating to Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services within the area.
