HIV/AIDS: Expert Applauds Wike’s Free Treatment Initiative

Following concerns over HIV/AIDS prevalence in Rivers State, indications are rife that the new user fee waiver instituted by the state government will enhance the control of HIV prevalence in the state.
Giving this hint in a post user fee waiver flag-off interview, the Deputy Chief Medical Director at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH), Dr Alali Dan-Jumbo, said the waiver is the best thing that has happened to HIV control in Rivers State.
Dr Dan-Jumbo, who is also the coordinator, Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) services at the RSUTH explained that the implication of the waiver is that all fees that were paid by people who test positive to HIV in order to secure treatment, are now being paid by the state government.
Such fees include test for HIV/AIDS, and if diagnosed to be positive, the person would be required to pay for consultation, registration card and sundry initial fees.
This, in the past, has discouraged those who may not be able to afford the fees to abstain from accessing treatment, even when the drugs are free.
“All these fees were paid for before, but His Excellency, the Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, gave a directive that hence forth, people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHIV) accessing care should not pay for these fees.
“In waiving it, the state government, through the magnanimity of the governor, is paying for the fees on their behalf”, Dr Dan-Jumbo said.
The waiver, which also HIV positive pregnant women, and not restricted to the public health facilities, he continued will on the long run attract those who would have abstained from accessing treatment to come forth for treatment.
“At the end of the day when more people come for treatment, it will enhance the control of HIV prevalence in the state”, he said.
Speaking on the effectiveness of the execution of the governor’s directive, the National Secretary, Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Mr Clifford Emmanuel said this is where there could be a snag to “the governor’s good intentions”.
According to Mr Emmanuel, “ensuring effective execution of the governor’s directive in government-owned health facilities will be difficult without a functional monitoring and evaluation mechanism being put in place.
It will even be more difficult to check the execution of the governor’s directive in the private health sector, because some key stakeholders are likely to see it as an opportunity to extort both the government and those who require the services.
One way to ensure that the governor’s real intention of instituting the user fee waiver is achieved is for there to be an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism, on the one hand, and the defaulters are made to face punishment.