Kaduna, UNICEF Records Improvement in Fight Against HIV/AIDS
Kaduna, UNICEF Records Improvement in Fight Against HIV/AIDS
By Alex Uangbaoje
In its efforts to rid Kaduna State of HIV/Aids, the State Ministry of Health in support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) may have attained a milestone as the rate of prevalence among pregnant women has reduced drastically.
Of about eighty four thousand and thirty five (84,035) pregnant women tested during the round one of 2015 HIV Counselling and Testing in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) week held across twelve local government areas in the state only two hundred and ninety (290) were HIV positive.
Presenting a brief report of the MNCH week to UNICEF and a team of health reporters in Kaduna, Malam Lawal Abubakar, Deputy Director, state ministry of health said they were able to test eighty four thousand and thirty five (84,035) out of the targeted eighty seven thousand and sixty seven (87,067) pregnant women across twelve 12) LGAs.
According to him, “a total of two hundred and ninety (290) pregnant women were tested HIV positive.”
Out of these numbers he said two hundred and twenty four (224) of them which is about 77 percent were referred to access ant-retroviral drugs for Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) while the remaining sixty six (66) were fund to be already on drugs.
”The MNCH week provided an opportunity for the PMTCT programme in the state to reach more pregnant women with HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) services.
“Is a strategy of delivering free package of high impact and cost effective health interventions that have been proven to reduce mortality rates and improve the health of pregnant women and young children.
“It is was a five day of biannual events of administering Vitamin A supplements, routine immunisation vaccines and deworming tablets to children under 5 years of age and providing antenatal care to pregnant women.” Lawal explained.
He said some of the major setbacks of programme were the rescheduling of the MNCH week to August/September instead of June/July and the inadequate HCT consumables in both Lere and Kauru LGAs.
He therefore recommends that the round 2 be implemented according to National plan of November/December and that it should also be expanded to eighteen (18) LGAs since the pilot programme started with six (6) LGAs.
Some of the LGAs referred to as high burden areas where the HIV HCT were conducted includes Chikun, Igabi, Jaba, Jama’a, Kachia, Kaduna North and Kagarko.
Other are, Kauru, Lere, Sanga, Soba, and Zangon Kataf. The HCT took place in two hundred and seventy (270) health care facilities that is two per ward.
