A not for profit organisation, and campaigner of The Lisa Demi Project in the vanguard of raising awareness & de-stigmatizing HIV & STD testing, has announced that it would be holding a seminar targeted at promoting better sexual reproductive health amongst young people in Nigeria. The theme of the program; “Let’s Talk about our Sexual Health” is scheduled to hold on Thursday, Dec. 14th, 2017 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere Lagos and will focus on the increasing prevalence of HIV and other STD’s amongst the youth in Lagos and Nigeria.
Speaking at a press conference to publicize the forthcoming seminar, the convener, Elizabeth Demilade, explained that, Education is very important in mitigating and curtailing STD’s. She noted that AIDS is primarily a heterosexually transmitted disease in Africa and this appears to be largely because of the prevalence of other untreated or improperly treated STDs.
According to Demilade, “it is pertinent we lower the incidence of STDs as this would go a long way in curtailing the spread of HIV infection. The problem becomes how exactly to accomplish this. Most STD cases are never even presented at biomedical health facilities; they are presented to traditional healers. Both healers and their patients seem to believe that traditional STD cures are more effective than ‘modern’ cures, although the former are probably biomedically ineffective. It is common knowledge that there is a scant ethno medical literature on STDs in Africa, so it becomes important to deepen awareness so as to drastically nip this scourge in the bud, she stated.
Demilade further said, “we are the future of Africa, the #TLDP17(Lisa Demi Project) aim is fashioned around creating a social re-engineering network that can change the age-long deficit for the sake of young people concerning their sexual lives through social engagements, so if you are between the age of 14-24 please come! It’s a free event for young people in Lagos. To claim your free ticket go on”.
She continued “ As a final year Biomedical Science student, I’ve always been passionate about Nigeria and giving back locally and internationally. The Lisa Demi Project is about raising active awareness, educating, de-stigmatising and promoting the health of young people in Nigeria. My vision for T.L.D.P started when I went on holiday to Nigeria in 2014 and saw how much work needed to be done. It became obvious to me that Nigeria lacks some basic healthcare supplies to meet the needs of the people. Clearly, addressing the problems facing the country’s healthcare system and economic situation is important in this movement. My mission is to break the stigma surrounding STD &HIV testing in Nigeria by educating and raising awareness among Nigerian youths. The Lisa Demi projects, aim is to empower the youths (as well as women and men).”
“STDs have become a serious health problem for adolescents, occurring amen ong the majority number of sexually active teenagers in Nigeria.”
