The Executive Secretary of the Adamawa State AIDS Control Agency (ADSACA), Dr Stephen John, Saturday disclosed that an estimated 65,000 people are living with the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrom (AIDS) in the state.
Adamawa has an estimated 4,248,436 people based on a 2006 population projection, meaning that the AIDS prevalence in Adamawa is 1.5 percent, an improvement on the 1.9 percent in 2012, 3.8 percent in 2010, and 6.8 percent further back in 2008.
Stephen John, who spoke at the ADSACA headquarters in Yola at a ceremony marking the 2018 World AIDS Day, said that of the 65,000 living with AIDS in the state, about 35,000 were accessing treatment, and urged those not on treatment to correct the anomally as there were opportunities for it.
He also complained of insufficient response for testing, saying, “There is gap in those submitting themselves for testing. This is not encouraging because the entry point to care and control of HIV/AIDS is counselling and testing to determine those who should stay negative and those who should access care.”
Also speaking during the World AIDS Day event at the ADSACA headquarters in the premises of the state Specialist Hospital in Jimeta, Yola, the chairperson of the Adamawa State Network of People Living with AIDS (NEPWA), Farah John, thanked intervention NGOs, including Family Health International (FHI), the Save One Million Lives Programme, Grace and Light International, Janna Health Foundation and others for their various forms of interventions which she said have improved life for her members.
Farah John, who said she has lived with AIDS for 26 years, stressed that without the NGOs and other stakeholders contributing to raising the quality of life of people living with AIDS, they would not have the chance to live long.
The event at the ADSACA headquarters, which was mainly refreshment and speeches by notable people, was preceded earlier in the day by a roadwalk along major Yola streets, in the course of which members of NEPWA, officials of the various NGOs and staff of ADSACA wore vests bearing the message, ‘Get Tested’ to convey to the masses the need to know their HIV status and take appropriate actions.
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