ENR scores high in Benue HIV reduction

The National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey (NARHS) had in 2007 recorded the state prevalent rate at 8.7% as against the average national figure which stood less than 5% within the period.The government of Governor Gabriel Suswam on assumption of office in the same year established a team under the State Agency for Control of […]

The National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey (NARHS) had in 2007 recorded the state prevalent rate at 8.7% as against the average national figure which stood less than 5% within the period.
The government of Governor Gabriel Suswam on assumption of office in the same year established a team under the State Agency for Control of AIDS (SACA) to work assiduously to eliminate the challenge.
And so, in 2008, the Grace Wende-led executive of SACA came on board with a better plan supported by the activities of  Enhancing Nigeria’s Response (ENR) to HIV/AIDS, a programme funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) which is implemented in eight states of Nigeria with Benue inclusive to address the situation.
Interestingly, five years (2009-2014) of ENR presence in the state, the progamme has been highly applauded for its role in achieving drastic reduction of the virus in the state such that as at 2012, NARHS report indicated a downward prevalence rate of 5.6%.
Speaking during the end of ENR programme report in Makurdi at the weekend, the state programme manager, Roselyn Ode said it had provided the right stewardship for the state and as well achieved a unified structure that will last long into the future.
She said that seven including Benue out of the eight states where the programme operates in the country have instituted the HIV anti-stigma law and that the law had helped in no small measure to reduce stigmatization of people living positively with the virus in the state.
While the UNAIDS manager in the state, Dr. Temitope Fadiya in his speech noted that ENR has thrived well in ensuring that key inputs from partner organizations were taken into consideration to the success achieved by the programme.
Fadiya added that ENR had worked well with all stakeholders to contribute immensely to the success recently recorded by the Benue response as exemplified by the reduction in the state HIV prevalence from 8.7 in 2007 to 5.6 percent in 2012.
He posited further that the presence of the programme in the state has strengthened, repositioned and refocused the support of the virus response through fully institutionalized structures and systems of the state’s health sector.
Wende in her remark maintained that the ENR had shown evidence in the increase uptake of services as they mentored her agency on how to build synergy among multiple actors in the sector, including state, local and other HIV/AIDS projects.
She expressed satisfaction that the programme was leaving the state better than what it met on ground at its start in 2009, stressing that, “prevention is our focus and they have made us have lots of capacity.”
Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Orduen Abukun in his key note address mentioned that the work done by the ENR had been manifested for all to see even as he appreciated the contribution of the programme to the reduction of the scourge in the state.
In a related development,  the state Director of Public Health, Dr. Joseph Kumba has said that an evidence of a HIV prevalence survey carried out in Benue state showed that more males in urban centres are infected compared to their counterpart in rural environs.
Dr. Kumba also said that there are no significant differences among infected females who live in the urban and rural areas of the state when the numbers were compared.
“The rates showed that though the HIV prevalence rates of males were worse in the urban areas, while in females the rates were not significantly different when comparing urban and rural areas.
“The situation amongst was similar to that seen in the ANC sentinel survey prevalence rates in which there was no clear association between location and prevalence,” he said.
Kumba in his paper delivered during this year’s World AIDS Day in Makurdi noted as well that the last four surveys conducted over the past seven years in the state has repeatedly suggested that the prevalence rate of HIV is high in Ihugh town of Vandekiya LGA and lower in Okpoga LGA of the state.
He however added that the rates had continued to fluctuate in the major towns of Makurdi and Otukpo, attributing the high prevalence in Wannnune and Ihugh areas to large commercial activities of farm produce being traded.
Moreover, he maintained that the trade centres are frequented by long distance drivers while a lot of sex work is presumed to occur in the places when compared to the state capital of Makurdi and Otukpo.
Kumba nevertheless expressed satisfaction that there is a general significant drop of the virus in the state following its status at 9th position which is a far decrease from the 1st position it was few years back.