The Lisa Demi Project to hold health seminar Dec. 14

he Lisa Demi Project, a not-for-profit organisation in the vanguard of raising awareness and de-stigmatizing HIV and STD testing, has announced that it would be holding a seminar targeted at promoting better sexual/reproductive health amongst young people in Nigeria.

The seminar, themed ‘Let’s Talk about our Sexual Health’, is scheduled to hold on Thursday, December 14, 2017 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, and will focus on the increasing prevalence of HIV and other STD’s amongst the youth in Lagos and Nigeria.

Elizabeth Demilade, convener of the seminar, said that education was very important in mitigating and curtailing STDs, noting that AIDS is primarily a heterosexually transmitted disease in Africa perhaps largely because of the prevalence of other untreated or improperly treated STDs.

“It is pertinent we lower the incidence of STDs as this would go a long way in curtailing the spread of HIV infection. The problem becomes how exactly to accomplish this. Most STD cases are never even presented at biomedical health facilities; they are presented to traditional healers. Both healers and their patients seem to believe that traditional STD cures are more effective than ‘modern’ cures, although the former are probably biomedically ineffective.

“It is common knowledge that there is a scant ethno medical literature on STDs in Africa, so it becomes important to deepen awareness so as to drastically nip this scourge in the bud.

“We are the future of Africa. The #TLDP17 (The Lisa Demi Project)’s aim is fashioned around creating a social re-engineering network that can change the age-long deficit for the sake of young people concerning their sexual lives through social engagements, so if you are between the ages of 14-24, please come! It’s a free event for young people in Lagos,” Demilade said at a press conference to publicise the forthcoming seminar.

She said The Lisa Demi Project was about raising active awareness, educating, de-stigmatising and promoting the health of young people in Nigeria.

“My vision for T.L.D.P started when I went on holiday to Nigeria in 2014 and saw how much work needed to be done. It became obvious to me that Nigeria lacks some basic healthcare supplies to meet the needs of the people. Clearly, addressing the problems facing the country’s healthcare system and economic situation is important in this movement,” she said.

“My mission is to break the stigma surrounding STD and HIV testing in Nigeria by educating and raising awareness among Nigerian youths. My aim is to empower the youths (as well as women and men),” she said.