Nasarawa State: UNICEF Charges Media Chief Executives on Support for Children
By Alex Uangbaoje, Keffi
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has charged media organizations in Nasarawa State, to support children by creating spaces for programmes that are met to help in their survival and development, especially in the areas of HIV/AIDS.
External and Media Relation Officer, UNICEF, Kaduna Field Office, Rabiu Musa, gave the charge in Keffi, Nasarawa State on Wednesday, at a one day, Media Chief Executive on Prevention to Mother Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV and Adolescents and Young Persons (AYP), organized in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency (NOA).
Rabiu, noted that, HIV/AIDS prevalence amongst AYPs in the state is alarming, and as such, the need for the media to put the issue on the front burner in other to rescue the situation.
He said all children in the state, irrespective of their various parents belongs to UNICEF, and as an organization, UNICEF, own the responsibility of ensuring that they enjoys good lives as part of their right.
Rabiu appealed to the media executives to use their good offices to help the children by making sure that HIV prevalence amongst them, if not eliminated, will drastically reduce to it’s barest minimum.
He added that the essence of the meeting was to sensitise the media executives on what UNICEF is doing to curb the prevalence of HIV in the state, how she is doing it, and to also share experiences on what the media has been doing and how they are expected to help.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Deputy Director, Administration, NOA Kaduna State Office, Hamza Audu, who represented the state director, said in view of the recent data on AYPs in the state, it has become important for the media to come up with a more systematic way of arresting the situation.
According to him, packaging of various programmes in an effective ways on awareness creation will go a long way in helping the situation in the state.
“I am optimistic that with the right attitude and inputs of the calibre of participants here present, we should develop media plan for implementation, to leverage airtime and use of existing programmes for effective spread and dissemination of of PMTCT/AYP/HIV messages as wide as possible to reach as many people as possible.” He added.
The objectives of the meeting according to Lawal Haruna, Communication Officer of NOA, is to update the knowledge of the Media Executives on AYP/HIV and AIDS situation in Nasarawa state.
“To review and document progress of the Media Organizations in the state in supporting the dissemination of AYP/HIV and AIDS messages, to leverage airtime and produce Links for dissemination of AYP/HIV AIDS messages, to develop media plans by the participating media houses. Lawal, added.
