Centre Charges Nigerians On HIV/AIDS Prevalence

Rhema Care Integrated Development Centre, a non-governmental organisation, has advised Nigerians to make conscious efforts to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country by adhering to preventive measures.

Mrs Priscilla Shu, an HIV/AIDS expert and Co-ordinator of the organisation, made the call while speaking with newsmen on the sideline of a sensitasation programme in Port Harcourt Friday.

Shu stated claim that Rivers State alone had 145,230 adults and 15,000 children living with HIV/AIDS.

She identified recommended measures as total abstinence from sex, faithfulness to one uninfected partner, avoidance of unsterilised sharp instrument and transfusion of only screened blood.

Responding, the Permanent Secretary, state Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Mrs Grace Akpughunum-Okwulehie, noted that the disease was ravaging the entire globe.

Akpugunum-Okwulehie, represented by the Director, Administration, Mrs Ibiere Pepple, urged the staff to assist in every way possible to minimise the spread of HIV/AIDS.

She advised them to take advantage of the programme and propagate the message.

She recalled that the disease was first reported in the United States of America in the 80s and discovered in Nigeria in 1988 through a 13-year-old girl in Calabar.