By Chukwudi Nwauba
The Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike has urged the public to always check their HIV/AIDS status regularly to reduce HIV associated morbidity and mortality as well as decrease transmission to others.
He noted that about 40 per cent of newly diagnosed HIV infections have been transmitted by those living with undiagnosed HIV infections.
``So, the high transmission rate from undiagnosed people living with HIV illustrates the importance of routine HIV screenings as a primary and secondary preventive measure."
The Commissioner said this during a press briefing to create awareness on HIV/AIDS in Awka.
``Reliable information from the State AIDS Control Agency (ANSACA), shows that no fewer than 98,960 people are living with HIV/AIDS in the state."
According to him, World AIDS Day is commemorated globally to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and honour the lives of those affected by the epidemic.
``This year’s commemoration had the global theme 'Let Communities Lead' and domesticated in Nigeria as ‘Communities’ Leadership to end AIDS by 2030.’’
Dr. Obidike explained that with the national prevalence of 1.4 per cent, Anambra HIV prevalence is ranked 5th highest in the country and the highest in the South East.
``It is estimated that 98,960 residents are living with HIV out of which 58 per cent know their status and only 44,808 are currently on treatment.”
He said that the state is making the needed progress toward attaining the Global 95-95-95 targets; of which we are at 65:81:93.’’
``Worthy of note is the gradual decline in new infections which is at 46 per cent between 2021 and 2023 and AIDS related death which is at 32 per cent between 2021 and 2023.
``We have scaled up Prevention of Mother-to-child Transmission services to ensure that no woman transmits this infection to her baby and the good news is that with the advent of Anti Retro-viral Therapy (ART), HIV is no longer a death sentence,’’ he said.
The Commissioner said that the state is also scaling up access to HIV self-testing to tackle stigma and discrimination.
Dr. Afam Anaeme, Director, Public Health, described HIV/AIDS as one of the diseases of public health importance.
Dr. Anaeme said the disease is transmitted from person to person through body fluids during sexual activities, mother to child during pregnancy, labour and delivery, breast feeding, blood transfusion and risky sexual behaviours.
He said, "there is the need for community involvement in planning, implementation and monitoring of HIV programmes as well as access to relevant prevention, treatment and care services.
``Communities are people living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV and they need to lead the frontline of progress in the HIV response.
``With the participation of everyone, we can reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Anambra,’’ he said.
Earlier, the Executive Director, ANSACA, Mr. Johnbosco Ementa, urged residents to take advantage of the free testing centres across the state to know their status.
He said that the state government has increased the number of HIV treatment sites from 104 to 1,182, with the collaboration of implementing partners.
``ANSACA also deployed mobile testing units, home-based testing, and community outreaches, to significantly improve HIV testing coverage and accessibility.
``We appreciate our partners – Achieving Health Nigeria Initiative, AIDS Health-care Foundation, UNAIDS, CHAI and Global Fund for their support.’’
Ministry of Information, Anambra State.
One more photo below.
Comments
Post a Comment