Lagos Trains Peer Educators to Strengthen HIV Prevention and Referrals
The Lagos State AIDS Control Agency has trained peer educators on HIV prevention, confidentiality and referral practices as part of efforts to strengthen links between community-based support and the formal health system.
The training, held in Ikeja, focused on helping peer educators provide accurate HIV information, identify people who may need additional support and connect them with appropriate health and psychosocial services.
LSACA Chief Executive Officer Folakemi Animashaun said peer educators play an important role because they often serve as a first point of contact for people who may be reluctant to seek HIV-related services directly.
She said the quality of those interactions can affect whether people feel safe enough to seek testing, prevention services, treatment or other forms of support.
Focus on trust and confidentiality
A central part of the training was the need for peer educators to protect confidentiality and communicate without stigma.
That matters in HIV services because fear of disclosure or discrimination can discourage people from seeking testing, treatment or counselling.
LSACA said the programme was designed to improve the quality of community engagement and referral, rather than replace clinical services.
Peer educators are expected to help people navigate available services and identify where professional medical or psychosocial support is needed.
Part of Lagos HIV strategy
The intervention sits within Lagos State’s broader HIV strategy for 2025 to 2027, which targets gaps in prevention, testing, timely linkage to treatment, retention in care and viral suppression.
Community referrals are one part of that chain.
The accountability test is whether people referred through the programme actually reach appropriate services, receive support confidentially and remain connected to care where necessary.
The training itself does not establish that those outcomes have improved.
What remains unclear
The information released on the training does not establish how many peer educators participated, how many communities or local government areas they will cover, or how much the programme costs.
It also does not provide referral targets or outcome data showing whether the intervention has increased HIV testing, treatment uptake or viral suppression.
Those distinctions matter.
Training people to make referrals is an intervention.
A completed referral is an output.
Improved health outcomes require further evidence.
How success should be measured
Key measures would include referral completion, service uptake, confidentiality performance and whether underserved populations are reached.
Those are accountability benchmarks, not metrics LSACA has been shown in the material reviewed to have formally adopted.
For residents, the practical issue is whether community-based support makes confidential HIV prevention, testing, treatment and psychosocial services easier to access.
The training creates a pathway for that support.
Whether it produces measurable improvements will depend on what happens after a referral is made.
