42,000 people live with HIV in Oyo —NACA boss

Director General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Dr Gambo Gumel Aliyu, says 42,000 people live with HIV in Oyo, even as he promised economic empowerment for at least 3,000 indigent HIV persons, with the support of the Oyo State government.

Dr Aliyu spoke at the graduation ceremony of economic empowerment for 120 indigent vulnerable persons in Oyo State, including people living with HIV (PLHIV), at the Oyo State secretariat, in Ibadan

Aliyu said empowerment for the indigent HIV vulnerable persons will put food in their stomachs and ensure they could go to health facilities to access HIV medications regularly.

He declared that between five and 10 per cent of all people living with HIV/AIDS in the community are indigent and ensuring that they adhere to HIV medications is critical to the control of HIV in the country.

According to him “stigma and discrimination had denied them work within the society, that is the gap this model will close up.”

“We started this last year with about 130 people in Kaduna and the Federal Capital territory. Now, we are expanding it to 214 people in Ibadan and Kano.

“They underwent a 10-day training; this has now opened their eye to see that they can help themselves without going around looking for jobs, whether they are disabled, married, widowed or living with HIV.

“If they can have something to do; the amount of money they make can help them to keep going to the health facility, to keep taking HIV medications as and when due and make HIV undetectable viral load equals untransmittable (U=U) a reality.”

Head, Gender, Human Rights and Care Support Services, NACA, Dr Yinka Falola- Anoemuah, in an overview of the project said, poverty, gender inequality, human rights violation, including stigma and discrimination, are risk factors that predispose individuals to HIV and prevent those affected living well.

Dr Falola-Anoemuah said that economic empowerment and livelihood skills are viable strategies that are critical to protect indigent vulnerable persons, especially women and young people, from poverty and other risky behaviours that could expose them to contracting the virus.

Chairperson, Oyo State Agency for the Control of AIDS (OYSACA), Engineer Tamunominini Makinde stated that ending new infections by 2020 and AIDS by 2030 will not be possible without giving support to PLHIV.

Engineer Makinde, speaking through OYSACA’s Executive Secretary, Dr Lanre Abass, said the agency, during its 2019 World AIDS Day celebration, also provided educational and nutritional support for PLHIVs in Oyo State to reduce the toll of the virus on them.