U.S. assures Nigeria of support on prevention of HIV infection

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The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle, on Friday in Bwari, has assured of his support for pregnant women and children to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV infections.

Entwistle gave the assurance at a ribbon cutting ceremony at Mapa community clinic as part of activities organised by the U.S. Embassy to commemorate this year’s World AIDS Day.

The day, celebrated globally on Dec. 1 of every year, “Getting zero new HIV infections” as it theme.

According to him, the intervention support is based on the need to strengthen fight against the scourge in rural communities and also provide healthcare services for the rural dwellers.

Entwistle said: “We are here today to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the world aids day by commissioning a community clinic that will provide vital services to the people of Mapa.

``This clinic will offer a range of options from primary health care to ante-natal care and services for pregnant women, including services focused on preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV.”

He described the event as a milestone geared towards marking the 10th anniversary of Partner to Fight HIV and AIDS (PEPFAR) in Nigeria.

He said the disease, which poses threats to the foundation of societies, was responsible for the increased number of orphans and poverty level in the country.

He also said that there had been a remarkable reduction in global HIV infections and AIDS- related deaths since the inception of PEPFAR, saying that getting to zero was possible.

``AIDS deaths are down by 32 per cent and new infections are down by 33 per cent; we are at a point where an AIDS-free generation is truly a possibility.”

He said that although PEPFAR had put measures in place to provide treatment for women and children, more needed to be done to eradicate the scourge in the country.

``All of these sound impressive but we can do better, in fact we must do better if we truly wish to halt the scourge of HIV infections in Nigeria.”

He reiterated the commitment of the U.S. to partnering the Federal Government on a five-year strategic plan to help sustain support for tackling AIDS issues.

He said the U.S. Congress recently came up with a legislation on renewing PEPFAR for another five years for the second time, saying it would help to strengthen ties between the two countries.

``This is the second time the programme has been extended.

``The commitment of the American people is to ensure that our Nigerian friends and partners have resources and support needed to effectively treat and prevent HIV and AIDS,” he said.

Speaking, Mrs Tayo Erinle, Executive Director of Tabitha Cumi Foundation, said that the project sought to help women residing within the community to access health care services.

She said: ``We have a passion to help women in underserved communities’ access quality health care.

``So, we looked for communities that lacked access to health care and this community has had various cases of issues with women losing their lives and their children.’’

She said that although the clinic was handed over to the community, the organisation

would continue to lend its support to ensure its effective operation.

``We have handed over, but we will be involved to see that it runs effectively, and also see that the community takes full ownership, to address health challenges facing its residents.”

Dr Miram Ezekwe, Chief Programme Officer of National Agency for the Control of AIDS, said that there should be more health education to encourage patronage of the health facility.

She identified lack of relevant awareness to be the cause of women failing to go for prenatal and ante-natal services.

According to her, the first thing to do is to establish community health intervention programmes; we need to have a lot of community health education.

``The main obstacle had been the issue of people not being aware of where and when to access health facility when they have infections,’’ she said.

She said agency had the issue of men not giving permission to their wife during pregnancy to do ante-natal services.

``Ante-natal is the in-road into full care, every pregnant woman must come for ante-natal, it is during ante-natal that the right information is provided.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event featured drama presentation of the need for women to always go for pre-natal and ante-natal to avoid infections during pregnancy.

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