New Telegraph

Rivers: 127, 000 receiving HIV/AIDS treatment

Emmanuel Masha Port Harcourt The Rivers State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS (RIVSACA) has disclosed that about 127,100 persons are currently being administered on anti-retroviral drugs to keep them alive from HIV/AIDS.

 

The Acting Executive Director of RIVSACA, George Nweke, who spoke at a two-day South-South HIV Roundtable  meeting in Port- Harcourt, the state capital, noted that about 120,000adultsand 7,100children arebeingtreatedforHIV/AIDS across the state.

 

Nweke, who was represented by RIVSACA Project Manager, Dr. Naaziga Francis further stated that the state government with support from Implementing Partners had made HIV service accessible across the 23 local government areas of the state, thus improving the quality of life of people living with the virus.

 

While urging the people of the state to take advantage of the services, he added that the state’s HIV prevalence rate stands at 3.8 per cent, and that the state could also boast of more testing centres to cater for the need of people living with HIV/AIDS.

 

He said: “We have recorded significant milestones in HIV response. We have 86 HIV/AIDS treatment sites, compared to five to 367 HIV testing services sites, and 11,115 sites for prevention of Mothers to Child Transmission of HIV in 2010 respectively, including Early Infant Diagnosis (ELD), and viral load testing hub for neighbouring states in South-South region.”

 

Also, the NACA’s South- South Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Uduak Daniel explained that the media roundtable was aimed at bringing out materials to create more awareness on HIV/AIDS, saying: “This roundtable is for journalists and implementing partners to parley and ventilate ideas, and at the end of the day come out with reference materials that would aid the understanding of HIV/AIDS awareness and reporting in the zone.”

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