In the heart of Nigeria’s confluence state, a silent epidemic continues to challenge public health efforts.
While progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, new figures reveal the staggering number of people still living with the virus in Kogi State.
The Acting Executive Secretary, Kogi State Agency for the Control of Aids, Ibrahim Anate, has declared that no fewer than 50,000 people are currently living with HIV/AIDs in the state.
Anate disclosed this in an interactive session with journalists during a road Walk in commemoration of the 2024 World AIDS Day in Lokoja, the state’s capital city, on Monday.
The walk was organised by the Centre for Integrated Health Programmes, in collaboration with the Kogi State Agency for the Control of Aids.
Statistic Of People Living With HIV/AIDs
In his remarks, Anate said: “About 50,000 people are living with HIV presently out of which 36,066 are presently on treatment in Kogi State.
“We are seriously fighting the scourge, and we are giving the awareness to all the community and the hard-to-reach areas of the awareness of HIV in Kogi State.”
He added that the state government, under Alhaji Usman Ododo, was striving to see that people who are living with HIV AIDs were on treatment and pregnant women who were HIV positive delivered negative babies.
“The current administration is also striving to ensure that people who are positive in Kogi State will turn to negative.
“The government is seriously working hard by providing support to the Ministry of Health, and KOSACA to see that we take the campaign to the very hard-to-reach community and the community at large in Kogi State,” he added.
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Challenges
He explained that with the current security challenges in some parts of the state, some HIV patients find it difficult to access treatment.
Anate, however, appealed to Ododo to sign the Anti Stigma HIV Law, which was recently passed by the state House of Assembly.
“When the governor ascents to this law, people that are HIV positive can have the confidence to come out and declare their status.
“Many can’t do this because of the stigmatization in the society”, he added.
Also speaking, the Kogi State Technical Lead, Centre for Integrated Health Programmes, Inyama Lawrencia, lamented the transmission of HIV AIDs from mother to child in the state.
“We have been advocating for every mother to go for anti-natal services so that they can know their HIV status.
“With the record on the ground about mother-to-child HIV transmission, CIHP has been working in the communities to sensitise women to ensure that they come out to the masses to know their HIV status.
“One of the challenges is that due to the economic situation of the country, Some Women who are supposed to go out to know their status don’t even go because of financial constraints”, he noted.