‘200,000 people living with HIV in Oyo’

Sani Aliyu, director-general, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), says an estimated 200,000 people are living with HIV in Oyo state.

He made the disclosure on Tuesday in Ibadan during a courtesy call on Abiola Ajimobi, Oyo governor.

NAN reports that the delegation led by Aliyu included representatives of relevant international donor and funding agencies like WHO.

Aliyu said only 16,000 out of the estimated 200, 000 persons living with HIV in the state are currently on treatment.

“We have a gap between the number of infected persons and those on treatment. We have a gap between infected pregnant women and those receiving treatment,” he said.

“We also have issues with the number of new infections recorded.”

The NACA boss said 10, 000 pregnant women in Oyo are living with HIV, adding that about 50 people contact HIV in the state on a daily basis.

He said the state has a considerable figure in terms of new infections, commending the state government for running one of the best programmes on HIV/AIDS.

Aliyu said that there are 1,060,000 people living with HIV in Nigeria, out of which only five percent were currently on treatment courtesy of the Nigerian government.

The NACA boss said about one million Nigerians are currently on treatment on the bills of the international donor agencies.

He said NACA had proposed to the state government to contribute 0.5 or one percent of their federal allocation towards HIV/AIDS.

Aliyu said such contribution by state governments would allow the states to put another 50 per cent of infected persons on treatment.

“For instance, we have 16,000 already on treatment. If the state can put 0.5 percent of the allocation, the state will be able to put 8,000 on treatment,” he said.

He assured the governor that they are willing to work with his government to ensure that people living with HIV across the state have access to quality and affordable treatment.

In his response, Ajimobi assured the delegation of his administration’s readiness to partner with them to bring the figure of infected people to the barest minimum if not totally eradicated.

Ajimobi, who was represented by his deputy, Moses Adeyemo, said his administration would support the donor agencies with funds and human capital towards the eradication in the state.