Chevron to fight mother-child diseases with N1.63bn

General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affirs (PGPA) of the company, Deji Haastrup disclosed this Monday at the Bayelsa state Prevention of Mother- to Child transmission sustainability planning workshop held at Omoku, Rivers State.He said that Chevron’s intervention is mainly targeted at its areas of operation in the country, stressing that Bayelsa State, where Chevron […]

General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affirs (PGPA) of the company, Deji Haastrup disclosed this Monday at the Bayelsa state Prevention of Mother- to Child transmission sustainability planning workshop held at Omoku, Rivers State.
He said that Chevron’s intervention is mainly targeted at its areas of operation in the country, stressing that Bayelsa State, where Chevron has its operation, has been identified as one of the 12 states in Nigeria with high HIV/AIDS burden.
‘’We are also aware of the 2010 National HIV zero- prevalence sentinel survey which placed Bayelsa State as the third highest in Nigeria with 9.1 percent and reported that only a quarter of the estimated 98,000 pregnant women annually in the state accessed ante natal care.’’
Describing the situation as worrisome, Haastrup said this was why Chevron in its tradition of improving the quality of life of people of its host communities decided to partner with PACT, Bayelsa State government, and other stakeholders to contribute towards the elimination of mother- to -child transmission of HIV in the state.
“Our mission is to help achieve regional and national elimination of mother- to – child transmission of HIV and keep HIV+ mothers and children alive’’, he maintained.
He lauded the efforts of the implementing partners in the project, PACT, in educating  and mobilising the population in the targeted communities since the flag-off of the pilot project in Sagbama and Yenagoa local government areas.
Haastrup said Chevron had provided additional funding support of $1.7 million in March this year to facilitate the expansion of the PROMOT project to all local government areas in Bayelsa State, targeting at least 120,000 men and women of reproductive age.
‘’This project is also expected to train an additional 300 community workers on community PMTCT approaches to enable them continue to create demand for PROMOT services in existing health facilities across the state,” he said.