Gloria Ogodo is passionate about mentoring adolescents living with HIV and helping them with challenges that they may face. She currently mentors adolescents in the adolescent HIV program that the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) is implementing in some hospitals in collaboration with the Association of Positive Youths in Nigeria (APYIN).
Gloria says that, “I have worn the shoes and I know how it pinches. The stigma adolescents face is incomparable with that of adults because as a young person, you will think that you don’t have a future living with the virus, that you will not get married and can’t give birth. For women and girls, when they hear that you are positive, they think that you are promiscuous, that it is because of the way you are living that God used to punish you. You feel like you are just a corpse walking on the street.”
She felt that way when her dad disclosed her HIV positive status to her in 1999. She had been exposed to infected blood through a blood transfusion and is the only one out of her five siblings who is living with HIV. “I became aggressive, packed the drugs and discharged them into a waste bin. I said nobody should disturb me because HIV is for people that will not survive and taking drugs is a waste of time. I felt that when I close my eyes, that will be my end. It was so difficult.”
Gloria Ogodo a mentor of adolescents
Today, she reaches out to about 30 adolescents who are part of the adolescent support group in Asokoro District Hospital, Abuja. IHVN with funding from the US Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is providing structured adolescent care and support in the hospital to encourage adolescents to adhere to their treatment and provide stigma and disclosure support.
Her story is one that the adolescents can identify with. Gloria has faced abandonment from her family and church and even ran away from home in her teens because of the discrimination she felt. At home, “if they want to give me food, they open the door and push it under. I felt rejected and neglected as if I am not a human being at all.” In church, “when I enter, people will be shifting for me. Everybody will be standing for me, right in church.”
With her experience, she is able to interact with the parents/caregivers, encourage them and help them tackle challenges when they bring complains. “Anytime the children have difficulty in terms of taking their medication or eating well, the parents communicate with us. We have seen positive results. It makes the adolescents to take their medications seriously. Their parents are giving testimony about that. We train the parents on how to disclose to their children.”
US Ambassador Stuart Symington cuddles up with adolescents during a visit to Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital DASHIMG
IHVN also trained 22 caregivers to strengthen their capacity to interact with the adolescents and equip them with skills to properly disclose the HIV positive status of the adolescents to them. Caregiver fora to improve parent interaction and peer support have also been established in ten hospitals where a pilot was carried out prior to the implementation of the adolescent program.
IHVN Senior Program Officer Maternal Neonatal and Child Health, Mrs. Grace Adamu says that the Institute’s program has made an impact in the areas of advocating for dedicated clinic days for adolescents in all the ten pilot hospitals namely, Federal Medical Center Keffi and Dalhatu Araf Teaching Hospital, Lafia in Nasarawa State; University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada, National Hospital and Asokoro District Hospital in Abuja; Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano, General Hospital in Katsina, Federal Medical Center in Makurdi, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital in Ogbomosho.
Gloria says that, “separating the adolescent from the adult is very important because with them, you can speak their language and understand them. You know what they want and what they don’t want.” She is now married and can address the fears that the adolescents may have about whether they will get married in future. “We are very privileged that IHVN has the adolescent at heart.”
Culled From: http://ihvnigeria.org/ihvnweb/webnew/blog/?p=468
