The Rivers State Government has restated its commitment to facilitate treatment, and provide care and support for victims of the dreaded Human Immune Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) as well as fast-track programmes to stave-off stigmatization and encourage reintegration through sensitization and capacity building.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Theophilus Odagme, who gave the reassurance on the sideline of “Health In Danger” stakeholders’ roundtable organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Port Harcourt, last week, explained that pragmatic measures, strategic structures and functional centres have already been put in place with experts to provide counseling services, conduct testing and treatment for HIV/AIDS patients.
Odagme emphasized that the state government, through the Ministry of Health and the State Agency for the Control of AIDS (SACA), has for decades been collaborating with the Society for Family Health (SFH), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other international donor agencies and funding partners to scale up testing and access to vaccines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS across the state.
The commissioner expressed excitement at the interest shown by the ICRC and the Nigerian Red Cross in efforts to bridge not just the manpower and infrastructure but also technical deficit through well-articulated intervention measures to reduce the negative impact of an almost broken-down healthcare system.
He noted the readiness of the government to strengthen the capacity of SACA to deliver on its mandate by effectively and efficiently driving aggressive implementation of policies and programmes to combat the spread and prevalence of HIV/AIDS while reducing the burden of the disease on the state and its economy.
Odagme encouraged the people of state, especially those who may be vulnerable to the virus, to voluntarily visit any of the designated centres for counseling, testing, treatment and care from healthcare givers and professionals dedicated to providing such services to promote quality healthcare delivery in the state.
The commissioner praised the sterling records of impeccable voluntary humanitarian services, particularly in responding to emergency healthcare needs of victims of armed conflicts and violence across the globe, and hoped that the ICRC would deploy its huge resources, both human and material, to ensure that the challenges endangering sustainable healthcare delivery in the state are brought to the barest minimum.
In her remarks, the Head of Delegation, ICRC Office in Port Harcourt, Dorsa Nazemi-Salman, said that the international humanitarian organization decided to establish presence in the state because of its importance in the overall development of the country.
She said that recent cult-related violence in the state required concerted efforts of government and neutral institutions with reputation for providing unblemished emergency humanitarian services in the healthcare sector to reduce to burden of insecurity on the socio-economic growth and stability of the state.
The ICRC operations arrow-head in the South-South praised the foresight and doggedness of the Governor Nyesom Wike-led administration to invest heavily in efforts to mitigate the consequences of the risk factors in the present socio-economic realities by partnering with all stakeholders to  restore peace and confidence in the state.