NACA DG Commends Oyo State Government Over Fight Against HIV/AIDS

The Oyo State Government has been commended for its efforts in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS leading to the drop in the prevalence of the disease in the state.

The Director-General of the National Agency For The Control of HIV/AIDS (NACA), Dr. Temitope Ilori stated this during a familiarisation tour to the State Ministry of Health.

Dr. Ilori commended the State Government and the Oyo State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS for being good partners in the national response to the eradication and elimination of HIV/AIDS.

She stated that Oyo SACA is one of the leading agencies in the federation, owing to its past community and media engagements in terms of jingles, documentaries to enlighten the people.

“I know that as far back as I was the Commissioner for Health in Osun State, which is over 10 years now, Oyo SACA has been active. There’s always one jingle or the other and documentaries to talk about HIV/AIDS, which I often listened to then in my car. So, I give kudos to you and I say keep up the good works,” she said.

The DG, who acknowledged the efforts of the Oyo State Government in the domestication of the political declaration that talks about 95% of the general population getting tested to know their status vis a vis getting medication and treatment for viral suppression, said that it is yielding results to meet up with the global target.

Dr. Ilori therefore solicited more partnerships with the state in reaching the people who need to be reached in the fight against HIV/AIDS, adding that the national response team is always ready to give the necessary support when needed.

She therefore urged all to come together to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS nationally and also to ensure that the year 2030 target of making HIV/AIDS a less epidemic disease becomes a reality.

The Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, in her response, appreciated the visit of the team to the state being the first point of call by the DG NACA in her familiarisation tour.

She added that the fight against HIV/AIDS in the state calls for everyone involved to take ownership of their health so as to live a better quality life.

Dr. Ajetunmobi said that part of the plans of the state in the fight against HIV/AIDS is to go on community awareness/engagement, involving religious leaders from all aspects to preach the message through their different platforms that anyone that has the disease should take responsibility for his or her health.

She said, “If you know you have the disease and you want to get better, get people to assist you instead of waiting till they reach out to you. We don’t want the progress that we have achieved so far to go down. We want the indices of the prevalence to go further down.”

Earlier in his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary of the Oyo Ministry of Health, Dr. Kehinde Ayinde stated that the state has been setting the pace in the country regarding state ownership programs on HIV/AIDS and we are ready to take over.

He added that the state has done a lot in the past year with the provision of bout 1,600 delivery points in the state.

He said, “Also we have about 1004 traditional births attendant points giving us support with HIV/AIDS service delivery in Oyo State.”

Dr. Ayinde reiterated that the state did better last year at facility testing with about 129, 293 pregnant women tested and also about 29,220 people tested at the community level.

Also present at the visit was the Chairman of Oyo SACA, Dr. Gbola Adetunji and other state functionaries.