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A Non-Governmental Organisation, Education as a Vaccine, which won the 2012 Stars Foundation Impact Award in the education category on Tuesday in Abuja, said it would spend the $100,000 (over than N15m ) prize money it got on youth centres to increase awareness on HIV/AIDS.
The organisation was among 731 applicants from Africa and the Middle East contesting for Stars Foundation award, founded by the international business family of al-Dhaba.
The charity organisation which presently boasts of about 20 health and empowerment programmes for youths in Abuja, Niger, Nasarawa, Benue and Cross River states also promised to cite the centres in Benue and Abuja.
The Executive Director of EVA, Fadekemi Akinfaderin-Agarua, who received the award in London, told Journalists that Benue was chosen because of its high HIV prevalence rate and general indicators of maternal health in the north central zone.
She said, “In terms of the north central zone, around maternal health issues, Benue State also has one of the worst. We looked at places that have a combination of issues, where you know that if you do something small, it will go a long way. It was Benue.â€
Abuja, where EVA has been based since 2,000, was chosen on grounds of Corporate Social Responsibility.
According to her, the decision to build youth centres was against the backdrop of the prize money given under the classification “unrestrictedâ€â€”meaning recipients were at liberty to choose programmes they would spend on.
But EVA insisted that its youth centres would differ by being manned by local staff, breaking barriers to young people seeking information about HIV/AIDS.
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