The member representing Niger Zone B in the Senate, Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta has challenged female journalists to intensify efforts to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases by engaging in sensitization programmes.

Kuta said women journalists should be in the vanguard of creating awareness for the evolving control of the spread and reintegration of victims. He told the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Niger State chapter, who were at his residence on a visit in Minna yesterday that women journalists should blaze the trail in the fight against the scourge and its consequences on women. "As ladies who are mostly at the receiving end of the consequences of the disease, I expect that NAWOJ should not just be in the vanguard against the spread but also on how to reintegrate the People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), especially women who are always discriminated against", he said.

The senator, who said the society was hostile to women and children, added that NAWOJ should use its privileged position as the watchdog of the society to advance ways of combating the situation. He said if such trend was allowed to continue, people living with the virus would not have the chance to survive.