HIV prevalence drops in Kogi, Katsina

The spread of HIV/AIDS   dropped from 5.8% in 2010 to 1.4% in Kogi State this year, the  State Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS (KOSACA) said yesterday.
It also dropped to 0.7% from 3.5% in Katsina State within the period, just as treatment centres have increased 20 in the state.
The Project Manager of KOSACA, Dr Musa Gabriel, said at an event to mark this year’s World AIDS Day in Lokoja that the current prevalence rate indicated that Kogi State had overshot the 2015 target for reduction of new HIV infections.
He said the theme for this year’s Day focused on increasing access to HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) to ensure zero new infections and zero related deaths.
Musa urged the state government to fully take over the HIV/AIDS control project in the state given the fact that all the donor agencies and development partners that usually supported the project had withdrawn.
He also appealed to the state House of Assembly to ensure speedy passage of the anti-stigmatisation bill currently before it to address issues confronting those living with the virus.
He also urged people of the state to avail themselves of HIV/AIDS counselling, testing and other support services being offered in  health facilities across the state to enable them know their status and manage it.
In Katsina State, Governor Aminu Masari said his administration was focused on intensifying campaigns towards to check spread of the virus.
Masari who was represented by the Commissioner for Information, Hamza Brodo, said there were 79 voluntary testing and counselling centres and 79 prevention of transmission from mother to child centres, adding that all hands must be on deck to support government’s efforts to curtail spread of the virus.
The Commissioner for Health, Mariyatu Bala Usman, said about 11,404 persons were receiving treatment in the state.