The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday commended the Kaduna State Government’s response to prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS.
The UNICEF chief on HIV/AIDS, Dorothy Mbori-Ngacha, gave the commendation at a meeting in Kaduna.
Mbori-Ngacha said that the state government would soon achieve the Prevention of Mother-to- Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS.
She said that the state was able to test and counsel large number of women on HIV/AIDS in 2016.
“Once you test them, you know their status and when they are tested positive, then you know what to give them.
“With this, the process to prevent the transmission from Mother-To-Child has already started, and Kaduna State has commenced this.
“Also, more than 50 per cent of HIV infected children have been placed under treatment in Kaduna State.
“Last year, it was less than 20 per cent, indicating a tremendous success in the campaign against HIV/AIDS.
“We are optimistic that the state will achieve the 90:90:90 target, implying that 90 know their status, 90 placed on treatment and 90 free of AIDS within the shortest period,’’ Mbori-Ngacha said.
She said that the state’s success story had become a beacon for other states to follow, adding that the feat was changing HIV response in the country.
Also, Dr Idris Baba, UNICEF’s HIV/AIDS Specialist in the state, said that 407,648 pregnant women were targeted for the PMTCT services across the 23 local government areas of the state.
Baba, however, said that more than 330,000 pregnant women, representing about 90 per cent of the expected women, had been reached as at October.
He said that of the 407,648 pregnant women, only 3,432 of them tested positive to HIV, out of which 3,021 of them were placed on treatment for PMTCT.
Also, the UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Kaduna, Mr Utpal Moitra, described the state’s response to HIV/AIDS as excellent.
Moitra also commended the state government for the planned increase in the budgetary allocation to the Kaduna State AIDS Control Agency from 80 million in 2016 to 410 million in 2017.
“Let’s build on the 2016 achievements in 2017 and find a way to ensure the timely release of the allocated funds in 2017.
“So, with the support from partners, we can together change the shape and size of HIV/AIDS in the state,’’ he said.
The Executive Secretary of KADSACA, Dr Haliru Abubakar, attributed the successes to the commitment of the state government to health issues.
“We targeted to reach out to 500, 000 people in the state with counselling and testing, but we reached out to 660, 000 people, exceeding the target.
“Currently, we have been able to place more than 51, 000 people on treatment and reach close to a million with interventions,’’ Abubakar said.
He said that the current HIV prevalence in the state was below two per cent.
Abubakar said that the American Government, through its Centre for Diseases Control (CDC), would conduct AIDS indicator survey for the state in 2017 to determine the exact HIV prevalence. (NAN)