Over 200,000 Living With HIV In Ibadan, Many Not Treated

The Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr Sani Aliyu, has said 200,000 persons in Ibadan, Oyo State are living with HIV and the dreaded AIDS.

The agency chief also said as much as 50 persons contract HIV daily in the state. Seriously?

He added that only eight percent of the affected persons were receiving HIV treatment. Aliyu said about 10,000 expectant mothers were infected.

The NACA chief said 180,000 Oyo State residents require HIV/AIDS treatment.

He spoke on Tuesday when he visited Governor Abiola Ajimobi in Ibadan, the capital, in company of other NACA officials.

The NACA chief said the Federal Government only funded the treatment of five per cent of about 1.6 million AIDS patients, while the others were treated through global funding agencies.

He said a large number of HIV carriers remained untreated due to inadequate funding for the control of AIDS by state governments, when compared with what global funding agencies committed to the fight against the scourge.

Aliyu reiterated NACA’s calls for states to devote between 0.5 and 1 per cent of their Federal allocation to the control of AIDS so that more patients could be on treatment.

He said: “We have a gap between the number of infected persons and those on treatment. We have a gap between infected expectant mothers and those receiving treatment. We also have issues with the number of new infections recorded.

“About 10,000 expectant mothers in Oyo State are living with HIV and about 50 people contact HIV in the state on a daily basis. About 1,060,000 people are living with HIV in Nigeria, out of which only five per cent are currently on treatment, courtesy of the Federal Government.

“We proposed to state governments to contribute 0.5 or one per cent of their Federal allocation towards HIV/AIDS. Such contribution by state governments would allow the states to put another 50 per cent of infected persons on treatment.

“For instance, we have 16,000 already on treatment. If the state can put 0.5 percent of the allocation, the state will be able to put 8,000 on treatment.”

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