By Okwudili Uzoho
The Anambra State Government has said that the HIV prevalence rate in the state is the highest among states in the South East geo – political zone.
With a national prevalence of 1.4 per cent, Anambra is ranked fifth highest in the country.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike, announced this Thursday in Awka at a media briefing ahead of the 2023 World AIDS Day observed every December 1
The Commissioner stated that there are no fewer than 98,960 persons living with HIV/AIDS in the state.
He said, “With the national prevalence of 1.4 per cent, our state HIV prevalence is ranked fifth highest in the country and the highest in the South-East.
“It is estimated that 98,960 residents are living with HIV out of which 58 per cent know their status and 44,808 are currently on treatment.”
Obidike gave an assurance that in spite of the statistics, the state is making progress towards attainment of the Global 95-95-95 targets, saying the state is presently aat 65:81:93.
Hear him: “And worthy of note is the gradual decline in new infections which is at 46 per cent between 2021 and 2023 and AIDS-related death which is at 32 percent between 2021 and 2023.
“We are scaling up Prevention of Mother-to-child Transmission services to ensure no woman transmits this infection to her baby. The good news is that with the advent of Anti Retro-viral Therapy (ART), HIV is no longer a death sentence.”
According to the commissioner, the state was also scaling up access to HIV self-testing to tackle stigma and discrimination.
This year’s commemoration has as its global theme, ‘Let Communities Lead” and domesticated in Nigeria as ‘Communities’ Leadership to end AIDS by 2030′.
