World AIDS Day: Ogun State tops in HIV/AIDS scourge in South West

By Moshood Adebayo

Executive Secretary, Ogun Agency for the Control of AIDS (OGUNSACA), Kehinde Fatungase, has revealed that the state ranks top in the list of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the South West.

This is even as he said the state will end the scourge by 2030, in line with the Joint United Nation Programme on HIV/AIDS vision.

Fatungase, spoke during a press conference to commemorate the 2019 World AIDS with the theme: ‘’Communities Make the Difference.’’

The secretary said the state has the highest prevalence in the South West, adding that Nigeria was at 1.6 percent (NARHS 2018) which was still above the national prevalence

He disclosed that approximately 150,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in the country in 2017, while seven states, including Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Lagos, Oyo and Kano account for 50 percent of people living with HIV.

‘’Seven states  in Nigeria account for 50 percent of people living with HIV.  The South South zone had the highest prevalence at 5.1 percent with higher rates of  HIV in rural areas (four percent) than in urban ones (three percent).

‘’Approximately 150,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in Nigeria in 2017. Since 2005, the reduction in number of annual AIDS-related deaths has been minimal, indicative of the fact that only 53 percent of those with a positive diagnosis in Nigeria are accessing antiretroviral treatment.”