‘600,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Kaduna’

‘600,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Kaduna'

 

The Kaduna State chapter of Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, on Monday berated the state government over what it referred to as non-challant attitude towards the welfare of its members.

Citing the 2012 National Agency for Control of AIDS report, the group said Kaduna State was having prevalence level of 9.2 per cent from initial 4.2 per cent, indicating that over 600,000 people are living with the virus in the state.

The network added that failure of the state government to rise and respond to this call within reasonable time, would increase the number of affected persons at geometric rate which may not be good for the economy and socio-political status of the state.

Lamenting the ordeal of his members, the state Coordinator of the Network, Mr. Benjamin David Angboson, said, “Kaduna State was having prevalence of 9.2 per cent from initial 4.2 per cent, indicating that over 600,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in Kaduna State, according to NACA 2012 reports.”

According to him, people living with the virus are now spending between N8,000 and N8,500 to access the drugs on their own.

“Imagine someone who is not working and has been struggling on how to get what to eat and now has to combine the money for the Retro Viral Drugs. That shows such a fellow will go into dubious business include prostitution and the virus will continue to increase at geometric rate.

“We are also looking at the area of skill acquisition programme to equip people. We learn that the state governor has been training people under SURE-P and applied. Since then, four months now, our own has not been approved,” the coordinator stated.