Good news as Edo Govt Set to Partner Nigerian Government to Solve HIV/AIDS Palaver
The Edo State Government will partner the Nigerian Government
to effectively manage Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection
and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS).
The state Governor, Godwin Obaseki stated this recently when he played host to the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac
Adewole, who led a delegation of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS
(NACA) and implementing partners on an advocacy visit to the Government House
in Benin City.
The governor said his government was committed to
strengthening health systems to allow for effective management of diseases
which include HIV/AIDs, adding that a committee with representatives of NACA
would be set up to brainstorm on an action plan on the models and strategies
for effective management of the disease in the state.
“It is important that we contain HIV, but there are
some key things we need to do. We also need laboratories and the right
management models to make it work,” Obaseki added.
Minister of Health, who was represented
by Dr. Evelyn Ngige, Director for Public Health in the Federal Ministry of
Health, had said there was need for the state government to increase funding for
HIV/AIDS activities.
Adewole explained that there was still a wide gap
between those who require HIV care and treatment and those who can access it in
Edo State.
He disclosed that an estimated 173,660 persons were
living with the virus in the state while 25, 730 persons living with the virus
were on Anti-retroviral treatment.
The minister said the state in 2016 spent N5,000,000
on the state’s Sustainability Road Map (SRM) for the disease.
He said the estimated project cost to implement the
SRM in the state was about N271, 432, 118.
“We want the state to earmark at least 0.5 to one per
cent of its monthly federal allocation for the funding of HIV/AIDs
Sustainability Road Map and the provision of HIV/AIDs commodities in the
state,” the minister added.
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