By Stephen Adeleye
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Nigeria has urged the Federal and State Governments to adopt and fund its Girls Act model to reduce HIV infection among adolescent girls and young women.
AHF Nigeria made the call in a statement by its Senior Advocacy and Marketing Manager, Mr Steve Aborisade, on Monday in Lokoja.
Aborisade said although progress had been recorded in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, women and adolescent girls still bear a disproportionate burden, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
He quoted UNAIDS data indicating that women make up over 50 per cent of people living with HIV globally and about 60 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to him, adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 are two to three times more likely to acquire HIV than young males of the same age, while biological factors expose women to about two-fold higher risk per unprotected heterosexual act.
He added that many people living with HIV still do not know their status, while adolescents aged 10 to 19 years face distinct physiological, psychological, legal and social barriers to HIV testing.
Aborisade said patriarchy, poverty and limited information narrow choices available to girls, exposing them to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
He said the Girls Act, a global girl-led programme of AHF built on the principle of “For Girls, By Girls”, was designed to address the challenge.
He explained that the programme, which began in 2016 in five countries, has grown to nearly 40 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to him, Girls Act focuses on preventing HIV and STI transmission, supporting positive girls to stay on treatment, reducing unplanned pregnancies and keeping girls in school.
He said as of 2026, the programme had more than 4,500 girls in active engagement and had distributed over one million sanitary pads.
Aborisade said the model works on four fronts including health, education and livelihoods, leadership, and results.
On health, he said positive girls are supported to remain on treatment while others are equipped with prevention skills, adding that free menstrual health products are extended to communities and girls are taught to make reusable pads.
On education and livelihoods, he said out-of-school girls are trained in life skills and entrepreneurship such as tie-and-dye, bead-making, tote-bag production and snack-making in Abuja and Benue, to promote financial independence.
He said leadership component builds girls’ capacity to speak up and lead, noting that 17 Girls Act members in South Africa recently completed a four-day public speaking bootcamp, while boys are also included to change social norms.
He said the model had shown results with girls now empowered to negotiate safe sex and exercise bodily autonomy.
Aborisade cited similar initiatives in South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, adding that in Nigeria, AHF is implementing a leadership academy in collaboration with Education as a Vaccine (EVA).
He said government should domesticate the model by creating dedicated budget lines for menstrual health, funding skills training for out-of-school girls, supporting school retention, creating leadership platforms for girls and linking young people to HIV testing, treatment and care.
AHF warned that failure to invest in prevention that builds livelihoods and leadership would cost the nation in new infections, lifelong treatment, interrupted schooling and lost productivity.
“Our girls have shown what is possible when someone invests in them. They have earned the right to be treated as a key population in the national response, not as an afterthought,” Aborisade said.
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