Fadekemi Akinfaderin

2000

Fadekemi Akinfaderin

Education As A Vaccine Against AIDS (EVA)

http://www.evanigeria.org

Abuja, Nigeria

Health

The Bold Idea:

Education as a Vaccine Against AIDS (EVA) is a youth-led organization dedicated to controlling the epidemic amongst Nigerian youth who constitute the fastest growing population of HIV/AIDS infected individuals. Founded on the premise that education is the key to effective preventive strategies, EVA utilizes informal and formal educational initiatives to address the numerous factors that fuel the AIDS epidemic in the Nigerian community. EVA’s inventive and successful program encourages personal and continued contact with the nation’s youth, curriculum changes in secondary schools, community-wide AIDS prevention programs, and counseling to those living with HIV/AIDS.

The organization’s largest program is the Secondary School Based Program, a multi-dimensional program which incorporates the various approaches such as a reproductive health curriculum, peer health counseling, and youth friendly health services and youth development projects. Since the program’s start in February 2001, the Secondary School Based Program (SSBP) has been instituted in 22 secondary schools and reached over 5,000 students in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

Biography:

Fadekemi Akinfaderin received a BA from Wesleyan University, Connecticut for a double-major in Chemistry and Molecular Biology/Biochemistry. She also holds a Masters in Public Health from the Population and Family Health Department at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York.  Apart from her involvement in EVA, Fadekemi has served in an advisory role and has contributed to the development of HIV/AIDS and adolescent reproductive/sexual health policies in Nigeria and to international organizations. Fadekemi has also worked extensively on the scientific aspects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in international settings.