Akwa Ibom state has now moved from being second in HIV/Aids prevalence in the country to the sixth position, dropping from 10.9% to 6.5%, the chairman of the State Action Committee on Aids (SACA), Dr. Francis Udoikpong has said.
He
said the position was reversed as the result of the enhancement of the Nigerian
response and collaboration with other partners on HIV/Aids.
Speaking
at the Primary Health Care Centre, Udot, headquarters of Nsit-Atai local
government area of Akwa Ibom state, venue of the free medical Outreach of HCT
campaign organized by the National Agency for the Control of Aids in
collaboration with the Millennium Development Goal said it does not augur for
the state to be rated such position in HIV rating.
“It
was an embarrassment to me when I came as a chairman to discover that Akwa
Ibom, a state named after God occupies that position of being the second in
HIV, and that is to say that some morals are involved’’
‘’What
I decided to do is to carry out what we called interpersonal communication,
talking to
the
people to make them know about what HIV is all about because they don’t have
the knowledge about what it means, what it does and what it is all about’’
He
advised the people of Akwa Ibom state to stay away from risky social behavior
and multi partnership in order to reduce the HIV infections in the state.
In
his remarks, the chairman of the National Agency for the Control of Aids,
Professor
John
Idoko commended the state government for its efforts towards the reduction of
prevalence of the Virus in the state.
The
chairman who was represented by Deputy Director programme Coordinator of (NACA)
Dr. Priscilia Ibekwe said Nigeria is the third in Africa with high global
burden.
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