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UNAIDS Advocates for Financing of Communities to Tackle HIV/AIDS

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UNAIDS Advocates for Financing of Communities to Tackle HIV/AIDS

By: Michael Mike

UNAIDS has called for the financing of communities to tackle the scourge of HIV/AIDS.

The body in a statement on Wednesday stated that communities are essential to the sustainability of the HIV response and to broader global health efforts. They must be financed and supported in their steadfast commitment to ensuring that all people living with and affected by HIV have access to the services they need and are treated with dignity and respect.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Christine Stegling said: “The only way to end AIDS is by working together with communities. They build trust and reach people which many traditional health facilities find hard to reach—the most marginalized, and people who face stigma and discrimination,” adding that: “To end AIDS by 2030, sustained investment and support for community-led responses is crucial.”

The statement said community healthcare and support providers are too often faced with challenges—stigma, discrimination, criminalization, funding cuts, and political backlash—despite their primary role in ensuring that health services reach everyone in need, including the most vulnerable.

It added that: “Compounding this, the current crisis caused by the shift in U.S. government funding has resulted in deep anxiety and pain for many community organizations as the future of life-saving community-led HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support programmes are at risk, despite the clear evidence of the positive impact of community-led services.

“Community led services are essential to the sustainability of the AIDS response up to and beyond 2030, yet community-led responses are too often unrecognized, under-resourced and in some places even under attack. Crackdowns on civil society and on the human rights of marginalized communities are obstructing communities from providing HIV prevention and treatment services. The underfunding of community-led initiatives is leaving them struggling to continue operating as well as holding them back from expanding. If these obstacles are removed, community-led organisations can add even greater impetus to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.”

Vice President of the European Parliament and a long-time HIV activist, Marc Angel said: “No society can thrive where discrimination exists,” noting that: “Every right denied, every barrier imposed weakens us all. On Zero Discrimination Day, let’s make it clear: equality is not an option—it’s a necessity. We stand together.”

On this year’s Zero Discrimination Day, UNAIDS calls on countries, donors and partners to fulfill their commitments and Stand Together to support communities as they work to build sustainable HIV responses by ensuring that: Community-led organisations are able to deliver life-saving services and advocate without discrimination or harassment; Community-led organizations can legally be registered in the country they are working in and receive sustainable funding; Communities are supported in providing health services to vulnerable and marginalized groups; Communities are supported and funded in work to monitor respect for human rights including ending the criminalization of key populations, stigma and discrimination and gender inequalities; Government health services include community representatives within their structures as partners in the development, implementation and monitoring of health programmes to ensure they are accessible and acceptable to people living with HIV and marginalized populations.

The statement added that: “The sustainability of the AIDS response now and into the future is critical with communities at the centre. Now is the time to reaffirm global commitment to their leadership.”

UNAIDS Advocates for Financing of Communities to Tackle HIV/AIDS

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Ambassador Mamman hails Buratai’s legacy, urges youth mentorship

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Ambassador Mamman hails Buratai’s legacy, urges youth mentorship

By: Zagazola Makama

Ambassador Yusuf Mamman, former Nigerian envoy, has lauded the leadership and reforms of retired Lt.-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, former Chief of Army Staff, describing him as a “soldier’s soldier” whose tenure transformed the Nigerian Army’s doctrine, structure, and innovation.

Mamman, who chaired the public presentation of the book Life Principles for Greatness from the Life of Lt.-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, said he accepted the role without hesitation because the work offered lessons for Nigeria’s youth.

He recalled that Buratai rose from a cadet in the Nigerian Defence Academy to become Chief of Army Staff at a time the country faced the existential threat of Boko Haram insurgency.

“He came at a very challenging and difficult time in our national history, when Boko Haram posed the biggest existential threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity since the civil war,” Mamman said.

According to him, Buratai spearheaded deep and profound changes that reshaped military doctrine, operations, and troop welfare, laying the foundation for the ongoing modernisation of the Nigerian Army.

“He never sought to take credit, but his works were very evident and clear. The master plan for the Army’s modernisation we are following today was driven by his vision,” he added.

Mamman also linked Buratai’s example to the need for youth empowerment, noting that Nigeria’s young people are making significant contributions in technology, media, and the creative industry.

“We must give them the enabling environment to harness their creativity for national greatness. Our future relies on the resilience, creativity, and scholarship of our youth,” he said.

The event, held in Abuja Intercontinental Hotel attracted dignitaries including Senior Military Officers, both serving and retired, Sen. Abdulaziz Yar’adua, Chairman Senate Committee on Army, and other prominent Nigerians.

Ambassador Mamman hails Buratai’s legacy, urges youth mentorship

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Kachalla Alti kills rival bandit kingpin, Dankarami Usaini in Zamfara community

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Kachalla Alti kills rival bandit kingpin, Dankarami Usaini in Zamfara community

By: Zagazola Makama

A feared bandit kingpin, Kachalla Alti, has killed a fellow gang leader in Matsuki village, Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, in what residents described as a deadly supremacy battle.

Zagazola gathered from sources that the incident, which occurred at about 4:45 p.m. on Monday, has left the community tense and largely deserted.

Witnesses said the slain bandit, identified as Dankarami Usaini, 40, a Hausa native of Matsuki, had long operated from the Dangajeru forest, allegedly extorting residents and attacking those who resisted.

According to locals, Dankarami was in the village to collect levies on behalf of Kachalla Alti, the younger brother of notorious armed gang leader, Adamu Alero.

However, discontent had been brewing among residents over the “excessive harassment” by Dankarami. They reportedly reached out to Kachalla Alti to intervene. Kachalla Alti stormed the village with his men and shot Dankarami dead on the spot.

Following the killing, many residents fled to nearby villages, fearing retaliatory attacks from Dankarami’s loyalists.

Local sources said tension remains high, with sporadic gunfire heard in nearby forest routes.

Kachalla Alti kills rival bandit kingpin, Dankarami Usaini in Zamfara community

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Police, hunters search for kidnapped septuagenarian in Gombe

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Police, hunters search for kidnapped septuagenarian in Gombe

By: Zagazola Makama

Police in Gombe State, in collaboration with local hunters, have launched a search for a 60-year-old man abducted by gunmen in Funakaye Local Government Area.

Sources said the incident occurred on Tuesday at about 12:30 a.m., when about seven armed men stormed the Ganti area of Abuku village via Ribadu Bajoga and kidnapped one Muhammadu Lawal to an unknown location.

Upon receiving the report from the village head of Bage, a joint team of police operatives and hunters mobilised to comb nearby communities in an effort to rescue the victim unhurt.

The sources said no arrests had been made as of the time of filing this report.

Police, hunters search for kidnapped septuagenarian in Gombe

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