Health Interactive with Dr Aminu Magashi The plight of people
living with HIV/AIDS On
Nigeria’s independence day , Friday , 1st, October, 2004, I
found myself traveling to Benue State
due to a semi formal and personal reasons , more or less in
relation to the plight of people living with HIV/AIDs ( PLWHA ) in
Nigeria. My semi- formal reason is related to a news report that
appeared not too long ago in so many national papers that, PLWHA
reportedly had peacefully demonstrated in They hit the street and raised awareness at the government house, visited some opinion leaders and politicians who are expected to press demand on their behalf. As we all know that with regard to HIV sero- sentinel surveillance of 2001, Benue State is topping in HIV prevalence as of then and during the Advocacy and Mobilization Workshop which was convened in December, 2001 by National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA) and UNDP, the state governor, Mr. George Akume accepted the status of the state, then and promised to wield political will to champion HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. Today in the state, what dominates the Radio Benue programme is awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS and the state is a partner to HIV/AIDS Emergency Action Plan in partnership with NACA and World Bank. Other International development partners (IDAs) such as Department For International Development And Society For Family Health are putting their best and of course local NGOs are not left behind. The 2003 HIV sero -sentinel surveillance shows a reduction in Benue HIV prevalence when a comparison is made with 2001 figures. My
concern, today, is the care and support component of HIV/AIDS programme
and that is the most challenging part which involves counseling and
testing and provision of Anti retroviral drugs as well as management of
opportunistic infections. The HIV/AIDS in Africa and Nigeria has
remarkably reduce the life expectancy at birth and reduce the workforce
and render a lot of children orphans, as it is no longer a health issue
but a developmental problem. The progress of HIV/AIDS
implementation in To
my knowledge that is the basis of the demonstration of the PLWHA in As I stated earlier on many occasions , some one with HIV require to be having adequate rest, eating good food, reduce extraneous work and respond to illness at the appropriate time and if after carrying a CD4 cells count which is a guide for commencing antiretroviral therapy , the person may be place on drugs depending on the cells count . I will like to conclude this discourse by saying that, the hall mark to achieving success in Nigeria regarding the HIV/AIDS saga is to ensure provision of quality and available and cheap Antiretroviral drugs and this is not the work of the federal government alone. On many occasion on this page, I mentioned that the federal government programme on Antiretroviral drugs which provides for only 15,000 people monthly and the 2000 people per year being provided by the AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN) with support with Harvard School of Public Health and Bill Gate Foundation. When one adds the two, the entire programme is providing to only 17, 000 people at the expense of over two million people that need such services. In as much as the programme is grossly inadequate, one cannot condemn such in totality , only to urge federal government and NACA to accommodate more people and I am of the belief that for Nigeria to make a meaningful progress in HIV/AIDS implementation , states and LGAs must be involve and tasked to commit funds and resources towards provision of Antiretroviral drugs and other needs of PLWHA and the way to go about it , is through advocacy to the state and local government policy makers repeatedly without being discourage and the group to do that work are the available NGOs in the nation in collaboration with Local and international development Partners. Dr
Magashi Is the Executive Director, Community Health and Research
Initiative, |