A new
survey by the Integrated Biological and Behavioural Surveillance Survey,
alongside the Federal Ministry of Health, has revealed that HIV/AIDS is
prevalent among homosexuals.
The
survey also captured sex workers, drug abusers, transport workers, men of the
armed forces and the police.
The
agency’s Director of Policy and Strategy, Alex Ogundipe, made this known at the
AIDS Day rally in Abuja, saying the agency was working with the authorities to see
HIV/AIDS as a problem of the people and not that of donor agencies.
According
to Ehanire, the country can check the trend by poverty reduction and making
information available to the people.
Referring
to the survey, Ehanire said, “The result of the IBBSS shows that HIV/AIDS
prevalence is highest among men who have sex with men at 22.9 per cent followed
by 19.4 per cent among brothel-based female sex workers.
“Indeed,
there has been a decline in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among the brothel and
non-brothel workers, police and armed forces from 2007 to 2014 while, on the
contrary, the prevalence has steadily risen from 13.5 in 2007 to 22.9 per cent
in 2014 among men who have sex with men.”
While
the statistics have shown that there is a decline of HIV/AIDS among sex
workers, it also stated that about 3.4 million people in the country had the
virus out of the 36.9 million persons living with the disease around the world.
He
hailed the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to
strengthening the sector towards achieving the global goals of eliminating HIV
by 2030.
Meanwhile,
the Minister of State for Health, Dr .Osagie Ehanire, at a briefing to
commemorate this year’s Worlds AIDS Day entitled “Getting to zero: Ending
HIV/AIDS by 2030” in Abuja, called for an end to poverty.
Ehanire
said, “To achieve our goals, we must continue to tackle the root causes of
vulnerability such as poverty, sexually transmitted infections and lack of
information and education as well as stigma and discrimination.
“I am
convinced that by working together, we can scale up HIV prevention, especially
among adolescents and young people, eliminate vertical mother-to-child
transmission of HIV and significantly expand access to care and treatment
services in Nigeria.”
Source: .punchng
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