HIV/AIDS Global Prevalence Increases

The global HIV prevalence rate is now at 140,000 new cases per day with 95 per- cent of the cases occurring in low or middle income countries, of which 50 per- cent are women.

 Chief Nursing Officer / HIV counselor and consultant on HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) Prevention of Mother To Child Transmisison (PMTCT) of HIV / AIDS Resource Center, Rivers State Ministry of Health, Mrs Anne Maclayton disclosed this at a 10-day training workshop on HCT and PMTCT in Port Harcourt.

In her paper “Basic facts on HIV/AIDS and prevention, Mrs  Maclayton stated that the HIV/AIDS prevalence is a “public health problem complicated by socioeconomic factors affecting all regions of the world and all segments of the society.

“Behaviour change remains a huge factor in the reduction in the spread of the virus.”

She charged the participants, drawn from health facilities across the state, especially, those from the Local Government Areas, to be proactive in the discharge of their duties as HCT and PMTCT practioners and to be compassionate and supportive to their clients.

 Maclayton pointed out that HIV/AIDS is the greatest health crisis facing the world today, saying that starting at an early age to teach children sex education and their sexuality will help improve their knowledge of sexually transmittal infections and their prevention. In her paper “Universal Precautions and Post-exposure Prophylaxis”, Mr Yetunde Akani, a medical social worker with the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital Choba HIV/AIDS counselor, adviced that in administering drugs in HIV/AIDS, treatment, precaution should be taken to ensure strict adherence by the patients to avoid drug resistance.

She stated that people on Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs have low Transmisison rate, saying that early treatment should be encouraged. She emphasised on the importance of care givers being knowledgeable in proper drug administration, suggesting that “this could prolong or shorten the lives of your patients. Mrs Akani lamented that in spite of the enormous work being done in the treatment of the pandemic, there is little change, saying that the infected people still find it difficult to access free access to ARVS because they are still being stigmatized.  

In spite of bills and policies that have been put inplace, people living with HIV/AIDS do not have free access in the society, they are being denied jobs because of their HIV status, they are not given the necessary privileges because of their HIV status, and others feel they will be denied, so they keep quiet about their status, and this promote the spread of the virus, she lamented, calling for the implementation of policies against this practice.

The training, according to an official of the organizers, a International Foundation for Education and Self-Help (IFESH), is aimed at improving the skills of participants for better health care delivery in HIV/AIDS management.