By Chioma Obinna & Samuel Oyandogha, Yenagoa
The wife of the governor of the State of Osun, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola, wants recognition of the rights of people living with HIV. The victims, according to her, should not be stigmatised.
She spoke in Osogbo, the state capital, yesterday, after leading a road show to mark the 2012 World AIDS Day, with the theme, "Getting to Zero", organised by the Osun State Agency for the Control of AIDS.
According to her, proper measure must be taken to ensure that no new infections take place by constantly adopting safe attitude and ensuring that no one dies from the scourge again.
Mrs Aregbesola stressed: "Let me underscore the point that this target is achievable if all of us work to take positive action individually and encourage ourselves together to stop undesirable attitude that makes the virus spread.
"Having an HIV today does not have to be a dea
th sentence if we go for early counselling and treatment. This is one of the positive attitudes I urge all of us to adopt from now on in order to reach our zero marks".
… HIV prevalence declines – NMA
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, has lauded Nigeria and other countries of the world over what it described as 'remarkable achievements' in the containment of the spread of HIV & AIDS.
President of the Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, in a message to mark the day in Abuja, noted that Nigeria has recorded remarkable achievements through the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA.
Enabulele stated that recent reports of HIV prevalence in Nigeria which was 4.6 per cent in 2008 has declined to 4.1 percent.
… Bayelsa inaugurates diagnosis centre
In a related development, Bayelsa State, yesterday, inaugurated the state HIV/AIDS Counselling and Testing Centre for effective scientific diagnosis and analysis of the virus.
