HIV rate is declining in Taraba , says TACA

Alhaji Abba Ibrahim, Director-General of Taraba State Agency for Control of AIDS (TACA), says the rate of HIV/AIDS in Taraba has declined from 10.5 per cent in 2013 to five per cent now.

Ibrahim disclosed this while receiving newsmen on Wednesday in Jalingo during the media tour of HIV intervention sites in the state.

The tour was organised by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).

Ibrahim said the state had tested over 55,000 people in various locations across the state and the rate had declined from 10.5 per cent in 2013 to five per cent.

He said that the success in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the state was based on the various interventions, embarked upon by TACA and other key stakeholders.

Ibrahim said the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS 2013) had put HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the state at 10.5 per cent.

According to him, Taraba is ready for the next round of survey, because of the various activities carried out in the state in 2016 and early this year.

“Specifically, about 16 civil society organisations (CSOs) were engaged to work in various thematic areas, to create more demands for HIV/AIDS services in the state,’’ he said

Earlier, Mrs Toyin Aderibigbe, Head of Communications, NACA, said the tour’s objective was to show various HIV interventions in the state to news men.

They should report them so that government could budget more funds for the programme, Aderibigbe said.

“We want the government to fully own the HIV/AIDS response programme in Nigeria; we want the sustainability of the programme,’’ she said.

According to her, NACA, in executing its coordinating role, is presently conducting media tour on facilities in Taraba, to give a face to their rapid intervention response.

She said NACA had scaled up access to Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) services in Taraba, in an effort to end HIV/AIDS, as a public health challenge in Nigeria.

Aderibigbe said the agency, through its comprehensive programmes in the states (NCAPS) had increased its figures.

“As at June 2016, the number of adults with advanced HIV infection receiving anti-retroviral combination therapy in the national programme in Taraba was 34,972, and the number of children was 1,793.

“On HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT), the number of individuals, from 15 years and above, who received HIV counselling tests in the last 12 months, had also received their results.

“Under the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) coverage, 9,646 pregnant women tested for HIV had also received their results.’’

She said the number of HIV infected women, who received anti-retroviral drugs to reduce the risk of mother- to- child transmission, was 413.

Aderigbigbe said NACA and its Comprehensive Programmes in States (NCAPS) has 21 comprehensive-supported sites in the state at present, with 66 PHC-supported sites.

She urged Nigerians to cooperate with NACA and NCAPS to end the spreading of AIDS in Nigeria by 2030.

“The gains already made in the HIV/AIDS response in the country can be consolidated and sustained, with increasing domestic funding and support,’’ she said.