The room was almost full at 8 a.m., as advocates, leaders of civil society organisations and senior government officials gathered in Abuja to learn from each other how to increase the effectiveness of their advocacy efforts. Nigeria Health Watch, the Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria and ONE Campaign convened the event as part of a new dialogue series on health issues in Nigeria.
It began with a screening of two short films that set the tone for the rest of the day. The first film was a TEDxEuston talk by Vuyiseka Dubula, one of the founding members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). We listened as she shared her journey of how she educated herself about HIV, after she found out that she was infected. Then, from a position of knowledge, she joined the leadership of TAC to become one of the strongest and most effective advocates for life-saving anti-retrovirals in South Africa. The advocacy work done by TAC, and similar organisations over many years, is one of the main reasons people living with HIV on the continent now have access to ARVs.
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