MOSAIC Nigeria at EKO 2023 Conference, Lagos Nigeria

A MOSAIC SUCCESS STORY

Maximizing Options to Advance Informed Choice for HIV Prevention (MOSAIC) Project presented two oral abstracts at the Third Nigeria Conference on Adolescent and Youth Health and Development – EKO 2023. The conference with the theme Achieving 2030 Targets: Driving Innovations for Adolescent and Youth Health, was held in Lagos from 16th – 19th August 2023. The conference was organized by the Society for Adolescent and Young People’s Health in Nigeria (SAYPHIN) with UNICEF and UNFPA as the platinum sponsors. About 1,000 participants were recorded (in-person and online) with viewing centers across 8 states in Nigeria.

The MOSAIC Nigeria Project was represented by Adaobi Olisa (MOSAIC Nigeria Youth Representative) who presented two Oral Abstracts titled “The MOSAIC NextGen Squad: Taking Meaningful Youth Engagement to a New Level” and“Unearthing Gaps and Opportunities in Oral PrEP Implementation for Adolescents and Young People in Nigeria”.

The conference had in attendance Mrs Bamidele Abiodun (First Lady of Ogun State), Eduardo Celades Blanco (Chief of Health, UNICEF), Mireille Tribie (regional HIV/AIDS Specialist, UNICEF), Regine Priso (officer in charge, UNESCO Regional Office) and many other dignitaries from across the world.

During her presentation, she shared insights on how the MOSAIC project is meaningfully engaging young people to support HIV prevention implementation research. She also explained how the project is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Health and implementers in Nigeria to expand and improve the HIV prevention landscape. “EKO 2023 was super fun and insightful but more importantly, it provided me the opportunity to connect with amazing young Nigerians who can potentially contribute to some of the work MOSAIC is doing in Nigeria.”

There were 14 plenaries, 12 concurrent sessions, 123 oral scientific abstract presentations, and 38 poster presentations featuring amazing young Nigerians and social media influencers including the Guinness world record holder (Hilda Baci).