ABUJA, Oct 30 (AFP) - Britain's Princess Anne Tuesday met Nigerians living with HIV/AIDS in a village project near here run by London-based charity ActionAid, on the second day of a week-long visit.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, has more than 2.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS and is in the 'explosive' phase of the epidemic with the number of sufferers rising fast.
The princess, who is on her first visit to the country of more than 120 million people, arrived Monday and met President Olusegun Obasanjo for a private dinner.
On Tuesday, she paid an hour-long visit to the village of Jiwa, just outside the new Nigerian capital in the centre of the country, where ActionAid runs an HIV/AIDS scheme.
ActionAid director in Nigeria Charles Abani said the princess, who is patron of another British charity, the Save the Children Fund, had discussed how the charities could work together in Nigeria.
"We had an interesting discussion and dialogue about the work we are doing here and the prospects of collaborative efforts between ActionAid and Save the Children Fund," he said.
Earlier in the day, the 51-year-old princess had toured the offices of the British Council, the British cultural agency.
The princess, who had cut plans for a visit to British-backed projects in central Benue State after violence erupted last week, will on Wednesday be in Lagos, the largest city and former capital.
She will visit Friends of the Disabled, a Nigerian-run British-backed group that provides vocational training for the disabled, as well as a school for the blind and a Society for Family Health group working to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Britain's overseas aid ministry recently awarded a major contract to the Society for Family Health and ActionAid to promote AIDS awareness and condom use in Nigeria.
After a stay in Lagos on Wednesday, the princess is due to visit the southeastern city of Enugu, the southern oil city of Port Harcourt and the northern city of Kano, itself the scene of unrest earlier this month.
The links between Nigeria and its former colonial power remain strong. Britain's Prince Charles was the last royal to visit, attending the 1999 investiture of the president.
011030
AF011085
Copyright © AFP or Agence France-Presse, 2001 - AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, that no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP photos or materials. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP stories, photos or graphics. http://www.afp.com/
ÆGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2001. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1990, 2001 - ÆGiS. ÆGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All materials appearing on ÆGIS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of ÆGIS and the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, or the party credited as the provider of the content.
