ASHENEWS reports that Stakeholders in the fight against HIV have called on the state government to sustain the efforts of donor agencies in reducing HIV/AIDS in the state.
This call was made during a stakeholders meeting to commemorate 2023 World HIV day with the theme, “Let Communities Lead”. organized by Civil Society for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria in collaboration with Sokoto state chapter of the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria.
The Government was urged to provide adequate funding so as drastically reduce the menace of HIV/AIDS in the state.
The Sokoto state Coordinator for Civil Society for HIV and Aids in Nigeria, Muhammad Garba, said for a long time, donor agencies had supported various programs aimed at fighting HIV disease in Sokoto state, hence the need for the state government to sustain the gesture.
“The essence of organizing the public symposium is to commemorate World Aids day 2023, since 1988, 4th December was set aside by United Nations to call the attention of world leaders for them to reaffirm their commitment towards the HIV and AIDS pandemic in the whole world.
“And to also make the government take the responsibility of funding the HIV and AIDS program in their different states.
“Over the years, we’ve been engaging state actors, that is state government and the national level, to see how they can adequately fund HIV and AIDS intervention in Nigeria, you’ll agree with me that 98% of funding for HIV comes from outside the country, and the way it is going if this funding is stopped, what happens to our brothers and sisters that are on drugs and treatment?
“Some years back, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Sokoto was 6.0 and it came down to 3.2 and is now 0.4% base on the NYIF survey 2018, but if we didn’t come all together as community, state actors, non-state actors, traditional leaders, religious leaders and every stakeholder, the gain made over the years by Sokoto state will be revised.
“The only way we will not go back to those days is for us stakeholders to work together and take ownership of the HIV responsibility in the state with 90% of the ownership coming from Sokoto State government.”
Garba added that the Civil Society for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria shifted this year’s activities from annual rally to interactive session in order to reaffirm the role of communities in achieving the UNAIDS target by 2025.
In their separates remarks, Dr. Balarabe Adamu Consultant Public Health at the Uthman Danfodio University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), the Technical Leader ACE 3 PROJECT, Dr. Bello Dahiru State and Principal College of Health Information UDUTH, Abubakar Hamza all submitted that HIV/AIDS is real stressing that all hands must be on deck towards mitigating the disease to the nearest minimum.
They also lamented how funding continues to be a problem in addressing and taking care of people living with HIV.
Addressing the gathering, Executive Secretary Sokoto State Agency for the Control of AIDS, Turberclose, and Leprosy (SOSACAT), Umar Bello Alkammawa said the state government is committed to HIV/AIDS control by 2030.
“The celebration is aimed at encouraging the community towards giving maximum support, because community involvement will no doubt bring positive results in the fight against the diseases”.
“Data shows that in 2018 there are about 12,654 people living with HIV and now also there are about 11, 320 who are on drugs, so if care is not taken all the efforts made to save their lives will be in vain, because as they stopped taking drugs the virus will harm them.
“There is also another issue that we face which is getting tested before marriage, there’s need for test regularly, there is also a strategy or scenario where the infected parents give birth to healthy children that is not affected by the virus. All these can be achieved through a test.”
