Youth Empowerment Foundation Hotline - Nigeria

The telephone hotline is a means of reaching youth in Lagos through a medium to which they have relatively good access. The initiative made youth aware of the existence of this hotline through multiple media including TV and radio spots on the stations and at the times that garner the largest young audience. Print adverts appear in popular newspapers and magazines, and posters and cards are distributed to young people in high schools, universities and youth centers across Lagos. The hotline is also featured on billboards located on major roadways as well as on posters that are placed in markets and bus terminals where out-of-school youth work or congregate.

Youth, HIV/AIDS

There are between three and four million young people between 10 and 24 years old in Lagos. Studies have shown that young people in this age category have the highest risk of being infected with HIV. In fact, their prevalence rate in Nigeria is almost double that of the rest of the population. Furthermore, young people are influenced to a greater degree than are others by a culture of seeking confidential and anonymous help and support through the telephone or the internet.

So far, approximately 57% of the calls to the hotline have come from the target audience (15-24 year olds). Most of the callers seek general information on HIV/AIDS, including modes of transmission, care and support for those with HIV, myths and misconceptions about HIV and Mother-To-Child-Transmission (MTCT), as well as places to procure anti-retrovirals. A vast majority of the callers (75%) are male, which is typical of telephone hotlines. Programme directors intend to make specific efforts to reach out to women in the city, encouraging them to utilise the hotline.