By Cajetan Mmuta, Awka
The Anambra State Aids Control Agency (ANSACA) declared on Thursday that no fewer than 98,960 people are living with HIV/AIDS in the state.
Commissioner for Health, Dr Agan Obidike stated this during a press conference held in Awka ahead of 2023 World AIDS Day observed every December 1 each year since 1988.
World AIDS Day is commemorated globally to raise awareness and Sensitization about HIV/ AIDS pandemic and to honour 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′.
Obidike said, “With the national prevalence of 1.4 per cent, our state HIV prevalence is ranked 5th highest in the country and the highest in the South-East.
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“It is estimated that 98,960 residents are living with HIV out of which 58 per cent know their status and 44,808 are currently on treatment.”
The state government is making the needed progress towards the attainment of the Global 95-95-95 targets of which we are at 65:81:93.
“And 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 are scaling up prevention of mother-to-child transmission services to ensure no woman transmits this infection to her baby. 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 the state was also scaling up access to HIV self-testing to tackle stigma and discrimination.
Also, Dr Afam Anaeme, Director of Public Health, described HIV/AIDS as one of the diseases of public health importance.
Anaeme said the disease is transmitted from person to person through body fluids during sexual activities, mother to child during pregnancy, labour and delivery, breastfeeding, blood transfusion, and risky sexual behaviours.
He said there was a need for community involvement in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of HIV programmes as well as access to relevant prevention, treatment, and care services.
The Executive Director of 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 increased the number of HIV treatment sites from 104 to 1,182, with the collaboration of implementing partners.
