NAN-HG-15
AIDS
By Talatu Maiwada
Abuja, June 14, 2017(NAN) Catholic Archbishop of Abuja John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has called for collaborative efforts of Federal Government and other stakeholders in the fight against mother to child transmission of HIV and AIDS.
Onaiyekan made the call at the Regional Consultation on Pediatric Care on HIV/AIDS Conference in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said that the disease was still existing and killing millions of children even though there was an improved possibility of treatment through Anti-Retroviral (ART) drugs.
He therefore urged government to insist on the prevention of the disease, stressing the importance of early diagnosis for children who were already infected as it was now spreading fast and becoming a pandemic.
He expressed worry that many pregnant women do not have access to the ART in Nigeria, which had led to many children being infected with the virus.
”We keep hearing that there are ART drugs to help reduce the ailment but the percentage of Nigerians who have access to the drugs are very low.
”There is no reason why a child should be born with HIV. How many pregnant women have the knowledge and access to the treatment to help prevent the transmission of the virus from mother to baby.
”Government will always say we have treatment for 40,000 people but what is 40,000 compared to millions of people infected by the virus.
“God is merciful to us by not allowing HIV to flog us as it should, because many Nigerians are positive but God is holding them up,” he said.
The archbishop called on government to increase collaboration with Faith Based Organisations (FBOs), adding that an improved inter-religious cooperation would go a long way in controlling and eliminating the virus.
He said that traditional means of curing sickness, which was once discarded, was now being considered, adding that FBOs had a role to play since they deal with the spiritual.
”In the African tradition, the healer always invokes spiritual powers to sustain his efforts and because of this, they have been called witch doctors.
“Some recent trends in medical practice seem to be casting now a fresh look on some of such previously discarded methods,” he said.
The Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS, Dr Luiz Loures said that the challenges and effect of HIV and AIDs was more in children than adults.
According to Loures, children have lower access to HIV and AIDs treatment than adults in Nigeria.
He said the best way to deal with the challenge of access to treatment for children was through FBOs.
Loures said that FBOs were more compassionate and would reach out to more children than the government.
He said that there were several challenges in the society facing the younger generation such as social exclusion, stigmatisation, discrimination rather than access to the ART treatment.
He said that scaling up prevention of mother to child transmission and early infant diagnoses as well as access to treatment would go long way in achieving the target.
Loures called on all FBOs fighting the course of HIV and AIDs to invest more in children living with the condition.
The Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission in Abuja, Mr David Young, noted that no fewer than 1.8 million children were diagnosed with HIV and 80 per cent were from Africa.
Young however assured of the U.S.’s support in ending the epidemic by 2030. (NAN)
TIM/GY
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Edited by Grace Yussuf