On behalf of the Board of trustees, governing board and staff of NELA, I welcome you all to this forum which NELA holds every two years. This forum is our own way of reviewing and re-planning our past and future activities with the assistance of our partners and major stakeholders.

I particularly welcome all of our partners from across the ocean –the HIV/AIDS Alliance, our major stakeholders in Nigeria- the Federal Ministry of Health and the State Governments, the National AIDS Control Agency (NACA), all the states AIDS control coordinator, our partners in Nigeria-the CBOs/NGOs and FBOs, CISHAN and of course and the media practitioners.

We hope that we will be able to identify during this forum, the gaps that hinder a comprehensive Nigerian HIV/AIDS response and come out with innovative ideas that would effectively involve, empower and engage the communities to work closely with policy makers and stakeholders to fill these gaps.

- Furthermore, it is anticipated that this meeting will assist NELA to better define its role and future directions not only in respect of HIV/AIDS but in other related issues that impact on the epidemics directly or indirectly.

- The outcome of this meeting is expected to feed into Nigerian national strategic efforts thus contributing globally to the fight against AIDS

- Despite the increased flow of resources for HIV/AIDS into Nigeria our collective responses still remain inadequate. We know for example tha the rural areas are undeserved, that only a few percentage of people needing ARV are receiving it and that even less have access to comprehensive care. The coverage of PMTCT services are very poor and orphans care still remains a much neglected issue.

Access to health services in Nigeria weighs heavily against the poor, rural dwellers, the females and the children. Stigma and discrimination that pervades our social and health structures further complicate life for people infected with HIV.

We need to correct all these imbalances and inadequacies.

We feel we must recognize the role the communities can play in responding to HIV. They must be involved in policy and strategy development and HIV work implementation. Community based programme should be better supported as they are better placed to ensure sustainability.

We hope that this forum will bring us nearer to a solution.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is along this line of thoughts that made us at NELA- decide to focus this meeting on HIV and community. It is also along this thinking that NELA’s works to formulate its strategic plans for the next 3 years.

Once again- welcome.