Gate - the The development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC)

post-test counseling. At one time they gave pregnant women who were positive vitamins and, at the
time of birth, neviripine tablets. They also gave neviripine “syrup” to infants immediately after
birth. Pathfinder provided the drugs. But now these mothers are referred to General hospital to
deliver their babies.
In addition to basic medical services, the military also provides office space for the AIDS club. For
additional support, the group seeks help from a number of private and non-governmental sources.
For example, the week before this visit, club members collected food and other supplements from
FACA. Occasionally, local churches donate money, food and gifts. For example, Redeem Christian
Church of God recently donated a bag of rice as did NEPHWAN, and the House of the Rock, a
Pentecostal Church in Abjua, gave 50,000 naira to assist PLWHAs. Other contributions include
services. Through Audu, 12 local NEPHWAN groups offer HIV counseling to PLWHAs, the Center
for Rights to Health provides home-based care, and Pathfinder gave 200 testing kits for pregnancy
and HIV to the barracks hospital.
Stigma and the Military
The Military has a non-discrimination policy with regard to HIV positive service men and women;
however policy may not always translate into practice. According to key informant Audu, the non-
discriminition policy is frequently violated. As a counselor to many service people with HIV, Audu
said that he has heard stories of blatant discrimination directed towards PLWAs, so much so that
most HIV positive soldiers refuse to “come out” for fear of the negative consequences. For example
, Captain Ojie said that HIV positive soldiers are assigned light duty like patrolling. “They are given
regular jobs. This is the law,” she said. However, to reap this benefit, a soldier must tell the
commanding officer his serostatus, thus risking exposure. According to Audu, soldiers are afraid to
come out because “they will be pushed aside.” He then recounted an incident in which a
commanding officer told an HIV positive serviceman in his unit to “just go” because the rest of the
unit did not want him around.
In addition, They cannot travel, they are disqualified from getting a travel allowance, which is small
but critical to the families‟ income. Audu, himself, has suffered from blatant discrimination by
members of his unit after revealing his serostatus:
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