Niger Delta
Mrs Ayade Tasks C’ Riverians On HIV Status
The wife of Cross River State Governor, Dr (Mrs) Linda Ayade, has said that “ if you fail to know your HIV status, you are planning to die of HIV/AID”.
She described AIDS as a monster that has claimed the lives of many people both young and old in the world.
Dr Ayade who said this recently in Calabar at an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, enjoined all to take care of their lives and protect it against contacting HIV/AIDS.
She opined that knowing your status helps one to plan his/her life further as well as live longer and that testing for HIV is no longer a death sentence, but a way of prolonging one’s life if a person is restive, especially since the drugs are now available free of charge.
According to her, no Cross Riverian should die of HIV/AIDS, now the antiretroviral drugs are being recommended, for HIV positive persons are to be taken in order to keep the viral load in check, such a person, can live a normal life even more than those who do not have the disease.
She therefore, enjoined all to continue to spread the message calling on people to know their status, especially for those who have been living careless lives as well as those who have had blood transfusion, for many people are still ignorant of the disease.
Dr. Ayade used the occasion to express thanks to development partners and stakeholders in the health sector for the work they are doing to help reduce the burden of HIV/AIDS in the state and all those who came out with various activities in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
She disclosed that her Mediatrix Development foundation (MDF) was doing a lot in the fight against HIV/AIDS and maintained that the best method of preventing HIV/AIDS was abstennance for the unmarried sticking to one partner for the married ones.
In her key note address, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Inyang Asibong said the community ART working with various partners supporting HIV/AIDS activities, enables them to go into the communities, and to people’s houses to get them tested to ensure that everybody in the state knew his/her HIV status.