HIV/AIDS: Ekiti to end mother-to-child transmission

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, has restated his resolve to bring an end to mother-to-child transmission of HIV/ AIDS in the state through effective collaboration with the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) and other stakeholders in the health sector.

This is to ensure that no child is born with the virus, and to further reduce the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the state. 

Governor Oyebanji disclosed this while playing host to the Director-General of NACA, Dr Temitope Ilori and her team during a courtesy visit to the governor’s office in Ado-Ekiti. 

The governor said his government will be more intentional and strategic in its drive and intervention towards preventing and eliminating mother-to-child transmission as a way of bridging the infection gaps among newborns in the state.

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He stated further that the state government had always being committed to steps that have reduced the pandemic in the state.

“If you follow comments on Ekiti State, we have done a lot of things in that sector to ensure that we work in respect to their welfare and availability of health facilities and consumables across the state. We are actually punching beyond our weight in that sector.

 “I am happy on the emphasis in reducing transmission from mother to child, it is very critical; yes, the prevalent rate may be low here, but the transmission from mother to child, we need to watch that. Whatever we need to do, we will do, because, it is in our interest to keep our people healthy and also protect the unborn children from contracting this disease, the governor said.

Oyebanji also promised to rejig and strengthen Local Action Committee on AIDS (LACA) at the local government level in the drive to ensure that the grassroots is effectively combed, adding that the government will ensure the establishment of HIV Testing Services in the 16 local government areas as a gateway to HIV prevention, treatment, care and other support services.

Earlier, the Director-General of NACA, Dr Temitope Ilori, lamented the huge burden of children born with HIV/AIDS through transmission from mother to child and stressed the urgent need to end the menace of pediatric HIV in every part of Nigeria. 

She said despite the huge resources committed to ending the HIV/ AIDS scourge over the years, the country is still lagging behind as it contributes about 25 per cent of the global population of children born with HIV.

Dr Ilori also stressed the need to strengthen collaboration with the state government in order to further bring down the prevalence. 

While lauding the Ekiti State Government for recording the least prevalence in Nigeria, the NACA boss also called for the involvement of religious leaders, traditional rulers as well as the traditional and new media to totally eradicate the scourge in the state.