4,245 Adolescents Living with HIV/AIDS in Nasarawa, Says NASACA
Emmanuel Ukumba in Lafia
The Nasarawa State Aids Control Agency (NASACA) has said that about 4,245 adolescents in the state were living with HIV/AIDS as of the month of June this year.
This was disclosed yesterday by the Executive Director of the NASACA, Dr. Ruth Adabe, in Keffi during a one- day media executives, reporters and producers’ meeting on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT)/Adolescents and Young Persons (AYP) Support in Nasarawa State organised by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).
The NASACA executive director, who was represented by Dr. Peter Attah, added that out of the total number of the 43,554 persons living with the dreaded disease in the state, 10 per cent were adolescents who contribute about three per cent of every new infection case in the state.
He said: “Out of the total number of 43,554 persons living with the HIV/AIDS, 42,550 are receiving anti-virus drugs, where 10 per cent of
the total number of the persons living with the disease are adolescents contributing about 3 percent of any new infection case in the state.”
Adabe however, expressed fear that medical services being rendered to people living with the HIV/AIDS in the country are declining due to paucity of funds from donor agency, and thanked UNICEF for coming up with the programme to assist the state in tackling the spread ofthe dreaded disease.
The UNICEF head of media team in the Kaduan field
office, Rabiu Musa, disclosed during the Keffi meeting that the Kaduna field office has earmarked its 2019 budget work plan for Nasarawa State, even as he continued that the government of Nasarawa State is in partnership with the UNICEF by doing same to ensure the actualisation of the project.
The UNICEF Kaduna field office media head therefore tasked media practitioners in the state to monitor PMTCT/AYP issues and write reports that would opportune women and mothers to access facilities that will stop the transmission of HIV/AIDS in the state.
