Fighting HIV/AIDs at the grassroots

While at least 300,000 Nigerians die annually from HIV/AIDS, more than 1.5 million children are reportedly orphaned yearly by Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). More worrisome is the reality that Benue state at the moment despite previous interventions continues to battle with an estimated 12.7% of its population HIV positive.The numbers need adequate strategy to stem […]

While at least 300,000 Nigerians die annually from HIV/AIDS, more than 1.5 million children are reportedly orphaned yearly by Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
More worrisome is the reality that Benue state at the moment despite previous interventions continues to battle with an estimated 12.7% of its population HIV positive.
The numbers need adequate strategy to stem the tide from further escalating, Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPCHDA), Dr. Ado Mohammad has said, citing a need for framework at all levels in the country, especially at the grassroots in order to drastically reduce rate of new infection.
“HIV/AIDS continues to be a major burden in our country, with well over 1.5million children orphaned annually by the virus which also claims over 300,000 Nigerian lives yearly,” he disclosed at the start of Integrated Service Delivery Training for community health workers, organized by the Program for HIV/AIDS Integration and Decentralization (PHAID) in Makurdi.
He said the “devastation and danger posed by the virus in our country calls for concerted effort by all Nigerians including Health workers to ensure that we drive down the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.”
He explained further that the inherent challenge in combating the scourge informed the various strategic trainings and programmes initiated by the NPHDA in states across the country and high HIV/AIDS endemic states such as Benue in particular.
PHAID Project training  Officer in Benue state,  Hyeladzirah Shalangwa, noted that the training  programme which is in five phases is intended to further equip healthcare providers with the wherewithal to provide a one- stop shop services to  persons living with HIV/AIDS in all parts of the state.
 “We want every PHC to be a one-stop shop,” by so doing both the infected and affected persons would have all their needs met without necessarily dying in silence or having to travel very far to get help.
Executive Secretary of the Benue State Agency for the Control of Aids (BENSACA), Grace Ashi Wende in her submission at the workshop urged the participants to make good use of the knowledge imbibed so as to take the fight against the virus to the rural environs where most persons living with the virus have retired to their fate.
Represented by Ado Ihyuman, the SACA boss lamented the unusual dimension the virus is being perceived to spread among young people in the state through homosexuality.
The new trend, Wende revealed, was the discovery of over 400 homosexuals-otherwise known as Men Sleeping with Men (MSM)-under an organised association in the state.
She expressed worry that among these categories of persons living with the virus are mostly undergraduates in tertiary institutions across the state who were not bothered about accessing medical help for fear of stigmatization.
According to her, MSM were discovered during an Epidemic appraisal carried out by Canadian partners in collaboration with BENSACA following the state government’s resolve to fight the increasing trend of HIV/AIDs as shown in the 2011 ANC survey.
Already, Wende said that her office was interacting with the group of young men who are mostly undergraduates in various higher institution of learning located in the state.
She stressed that the idea of identifying with the MSM which usually hold their general meeting in December in Makurdi is meant to reduce the spread of HIV virus commonly found among them.
The BENSACA boss further lamented that HIV epidemic has reached the third decade with Benue contributing significantly to the prevalence in Nigeria but regretted that the activities of the homosexual was fast contributing to rising new cases and basically so because they neglect medical attention.
According to her, “318,888 Benue children are currently living with the  HIV/AIDS Virus and placed on Anti Retroviral therapy and over 708,640 adults also living with the virus in the state.”
She explained that out of the number of the adults living with the virus, 21,259 were new cases, noting that 17, 139 women were also found positive in 2011.
 “Two drops were recorded in 2001 (13.5%) and 2003 (9.3%). But an upward trend has been recorded since 2005; there is therefore a heightened need for scale-up of effective and efficient HIV prevention efforts in the state.
 “We have the highest number of treatment centres that are providing free Anti Retroviral Drugs to persons living with the virus in the country; at least 40 centres and we have drugs that could last up to 2015.”
But the challenge in her estimation remains the homosexuals not accessing any medical care that would have helped to rid the state of the dreaded virus and more worrisome is the fact that majority of them are undergraduates within the age bracket of sexually active population.
Corroborating this view, Dr. Bello maintained that Benue’s current prevalence rate is far higher than the national prevalence rate put at 4.1percent, adding that 17 other states also rank higher than the national prevalence.
However, he expressed hope that the measures being adopted to further expand the strategy under the SURE-P would go a long way to militate against the spread of the virus, admitting also that the agency is presently working with the MSM.