ENUGU — IN an attempt to tackle the spread of HIV/AIDS in Enugu State, the Ogbete Market Traders Association, Enugu in collaboration with Life Line Plus Foundation and the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, yesterday inaugurated a committee to enlighten its members on the dangers of the disease.
The committee known as Ogbete Market Traders Action Committee on AIDS, OMTACA, was inaugurated by the Chairman of the traders’ association, Chief Ossy Peters at a ceremony attended by thousands of traders in the market.
Speaking at the occasion, Peters said that the Ogbete Market was a pilot of commercial activities in the state and that traders are usually in contact with thousands of their customers from both the state and neighbouring states, noting that considering the age bracket of the traders and the commonest mode of transmission which is sexual contact, the traders, like other persons are vulnerable to the dreaded disease.
"The itinerant nature of traders makes them vulnerable as they travel long distances to get their goods, thereby separating men from their wives and creating room for some risky behaviours. It is this kind of behaviours that invites HIV/AIDS," Peters said.
The chairman explained that the association recognised the vital role traders play in the country’s economy –– the role of middlemen between manufacturers and final consumers, and, therefore, should guide jealously the traders’ health to avoid creating a vacuum and loss of men and materials that move the economy to greater heights.
"But the coming of HIV/AIDS is threatening commercial activities as some traders have been known to have died from the disease and some are already infected," remarked Peters who did not give the figures of the affected traders.
Acknowledging the role of Governor Chimaroke Nnamani’s administration in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Peters further said that the traders are united to fight the killer disease "until it is out of our land. We hope to do this through public enlightenment campaigns, seminars, workshops, advocacy visits, etc. We therefore call on government, NGOs, donor agencies, etc, to give their support towards educating all traders on the dangers of the disease," he added.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Committee, Rev. Cyril Mejuru said the committee would liaise with the various government agencies, NGOs, international donor agencies to execute programmes aimed at preventing the spread of the disease, nothing that it would also work with any organisation in the pursuit of its set objectives. He added that the committee was set up to fight HIV/AIDS in line with the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA).
On stigmatisation and discrimination of persons living with HIV/AIDS, Mejuru stressed that the committee would seriously look into it, since persons living with HIV/AIDS are made to go through horrible experiences because of their status. "It is the committee’s duty to ensure that no trader will be stigmatised or discriminated against on the ground of their sero status," he said.
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