HIV+ Couples Encouraged to Marry in Nigeria

Nigeria boasts a population of approximately 140 million people; however, of those, nearly 4 million are inflicted with HIV, making this country the second largest in the world in terms of HIV cases. While the HIV rate has gone done a tiny bit over the past three years, Nigeria is far from having HIV lose its epidemic status in that country. Due to this, the government has begun a controversial new program designed to help halt HIV in its tracks. After all, extreme times call for extreme measures.

In an effort to keep HIV under some type of control, the Nigerian government in Bauchi State has started offering free counseling and money to those HIV-infected partners who take the plunge and get married. Yakubu Usman Abubakar who works with the Bauchi Action Committee on AIDS (the committee that is sponsoring this new program) states, “We live in a polygamous society where divorce is common and condom use is low. If we can stop those who have the disease spreading it to those who don’t have the disease, then obviously it will come under control.” Since the program began almost two years ago, over 90 HIV-positive couples have been married.

The 94th couple is comprised of the bride Hauwa Idris and her groom Umar Ahmed. They met in the waiting room of a clinic as they both waited to obtain their anti-retroviral drugs. Numbers were exchanged and two months later, they were officially engaged with the blessings of both sets of parents. Idris states, “I’m very happy to see my wedding day. I never expected I was going to marry because of my (HIV) status. But now I am happy and thank God that now we have a solution … we can marry within ourselves.” Idris’s family agreed to a dowry of $68. As an extra incentive, the Bauchi group gifted the couple an extra $225 so they could establish a new home. While Americans may see these amounts as paltry, bear in mind that the majority of the population in Nigeria is able to live modestly on only one dollar a day.

The program will not be formally introduced until sometime in 2009, and no budget has been assigned to it. Naturally, the program will not seek out patients infected with HIV and try to match them up as that would violate privacy issues; however, should the program be notified of a match comprised of those infected with HIV, at that time they might use incentives to encourage the couple to marry.

Another successful union helped out by the Bauchi group is Usman Ziko and his wife Hannah. They married in October 2008, eighteen months after meeting at an HIV clinic. Ziko says, “We have such a close bond.” His wife brightens up when talking about their wedding, “It was a flamboyant affair. Lots of people and dancing and we snapped pictures to remember the day.” Ziko remembers when his life changed with HIV, “When I first found out I was positive I thought it was the end of the world. I was depressed and became isolated from my friends. Now I have a partner who understands everything. We share our problems, remind each other to take medicine and are free with each other.” The Bauchi Action Committee on AIDS is also helping those HIV-positive married couples in their quest to have children who are not infected with the virus. They help couples by providing advice and treatments in an effort to keep the mother from transmitting the virus to her unborn child.