Rivers State, with a 15.2% prevalence rate, is the State with the highest level of
HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
This
was detailed in a report on the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate published by the
National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) and some tests carried out on
people living with HIV/AIDS.
Taraba
came second on the list with a 10.5 % prevalence rate while Kaduna, with a 9.2
%, comes in third position.
Nasarawa,
FCT, Akwa Ibom, Sokoto and Oyo occupied the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and
eighth spots respectively on the chart.
Benue
state governor’s wife, Mrs Eunice Ortom, revealed that the state is now ninth on
the log, an improvement from its former number one position in the country.
According
to her, Benue had over the years been rated highest in HIV and AIDS prevalence,
but that the recent results show that their journey to achieving zero cases is
not far off success.
She
said: “Benue had the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in
Nigeria, but due to the dedicated and collaborative efforts of BENSACA and
other partners, the state had been lifted to be the ninth in the country.
“Our
focus over the years is to get to zero prevalence, which implies zero
infections, zero HIV-related deaths and zero discrimination against persons
with the virus.”
Mrs
Ortom noted also that the idea is to break the Guinness World Record on HIV
test by testing and issuing results to 10,000 persons to ensure quick access to
testing and counseling by the people of the state.
“The
concept of testing 10,000 persons and producing results within eight hours is,
therefore, not just an exercise for the purpose of breaking the Guinness World
Record, but to send a strong message to the world.
“The
message is that testing is the first step to prevention and treatment of HIV
and AIDS and everyone needs to know his or her status,”
she added.
About two months ago, a report was made public, where
it was revealed that about 3.4million Nigerians were living with HIV/AIDS.
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