Health Interactive with Dr Aminu Magashi

The plight of people living with HIV/AIDS

healthinteractive@hotmail.com

 

 

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 Benue State over the neglect of their welfare which is equally link to stigma and discrimination. The information I gathered by the time I arrived Benue was very pathetic, the number of PLWHA that need Antiretroviral drugs  on monthly  basis is  very large and there are very few short listed  candidates on the federal government list at Makurdi Federal Medical Center, even at that stage, there were a lot of dissenting voices and lamentation from the short listed people about breakage in allocation and supply  and lack of sustainability and allegedly foul play from the managers of the programme.

 

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 Nigeria and success lies in our ability to strengthen care and support intervention. It is not only going to reduce the mortality attributed to HIV/AIDS but it will dampen the spread of HIV and reduce the number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and of course if drugs are available in the market, at an affordable price, a lot of PLWHA will come out and be able to purchase the drugs and that alone will reduce stigma and discrimination.

 

To my knowledge that is the basis of the demonstration of the PLWHA in Benue , drugs are not available, its subsidize ones by the federal government is grossly inadequate. The Herculean task by the IDAs and NGOs and government is to ensure the provision Antiretroviral drugs and management of opportunistic infections.  The second reason why I went to Benue  was an invitation from someone I know in the state during my NYSC period, before the invitation ,  he had sent me several E : mails and phone calls about his deteriorating  health condition  . In one of the phone discussion with him, I counseled him to go for an HIV test because certainly overlooking that angle will not help him but to worsen his condition. He did the test and reveled the information to me, by the time we met, he is able to conquer the first step, that is accepting his new status and to begin a new life. Many questions were asked by him, such as ,  now that he is HIV positive, he will not be able marry and reproduce and his life will be in a miserable shape.  At the end of it all, by the time I was leaving Benue on Sunday, 3rd, October, 2004, he has come out of his cocoon to pursue his life like any other person . As I told him that somebody that his HIV positive is like any other person, he is free to marry, settle and reproduce and I told him that I come across family that are positive and had bear HIV negative children. Every thing has to be done cautiously , for him to marry, he need to be counsel and revel his status to his will be partner and if they agree to have children, the moment she become pregnant , she need to be visiting hospital for regular check ups to prevent mother to child HIV/AIDS infection.

 

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, Kano , Nigeria .