A group, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), has urged governments, women and adolescent girls to adopt the Girls Act model on HIV prevention and management to enable the next generation of Nigerian girls to grow up informed, independent, and free of HIV.

Citing the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), it noted that women have a higher infection record and face a roughly two-fold higher biological acquisition risk per unprotected heterosexual act due to larger mucosal surface area and longer exposure to seminal fluids, among others.

Against the foregoing, it said the Girls Act – an AHF global, girl-led programme built on the principle of “For Girls, By Girls,” aims to prevent HIV and STI transmission, support infected girls to stay on treatment, reduce unplanned pregnancies and keep girls in school.

Listing financial independence among the strongest protections against the poverty that exposes girls to HIV, AHF said it empowers the younger women by supporting girls who want to return to school.

It also trains others in life skills and helps them to set up, with those in Abuja and Benue learning tie-and-dye, bead-making, and tote-bag production, among others.

The other measures include mentorship, advocacy, and resources, through which AHF Girls Act creates avenues for girls to aspire and to lead, just as the group helps girls who are not positive to learn the skills to prevent infection and make informed decisions.

AHF called on the government to adopt the Girls Act, fund it, and scale it up to achieve an informed, independent, and HIV-free next generation, adding that a non-governmental organisation cannot, and should not, carry the burden alone.