[pronut-hiv] Nigeria: 'How We Live Positively With HIV'

["Pronut-HIV" <pronut-hiv@healthnet.org>]

Nigeria: 'How We Live Positively With HIV'
This Day (Lagos)

March 20, 2006 
Godwin Haruna
Lagos 

"I am married, but I lost my wife to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We have
children who are not infected and they are all in school. This thing
came after we had stopped giving birth.

The state of the HIV infection in Gombe State is very high. But the sad
fact is that they are not on drug, we have about 79,000 infected, but
only about 10,000 are on drugs. It should have been 12,000, but some of
them have no slot, because the Federal Government slots are only for
2,000 people. You can see that about 8,000 people are sourcing their
drugs elsewhere. Our state has not started giving us ARV drugs. The
people are dying in Gombe State because of lack of care and support and
to that length, we have resolved to sensitise the people through this
kind of awareness programme and more people who are infected are opening
up now".

These were the words of Mr. Bulus Saidu, an agric engineer, who also
doubles as the programme officer, Centre for Positive Development, which
deals directly with people living with HIV/AIDS in Gombe. Saidu,who
spoke at the HIV/AIDS Advocacy Tribunal held in Gombe, lamented that
enough was not being done to reduce the pandemic in the state, which has
one of the highest prevalence rates in the zone at 6.8 per cent. The
mock tribunal was part of the advocacy activities of the Christian
Health Association of Nigeria (CHAN) working in collaboration with
Christian Aid UK, to bring the HIV/AIDS issues into the front burner.

Speaking further, Saidu says although the ARVs were now free at the
Federal Medical Centre in the state, those getting it on their own were
procuring them for as much as N7,000 or more in the open market. He says
this high cost of the ARVs has led to the deaths of many who could not
afford it. He says for now, the persons living with the virus have not
assessed any help from anywhere and they are not anywhere near the ARVs
the state government promised them.

Saidu whose condition was disclosed to him about five years ago states
that he is on diet to stabilize his health condition. He says his
exposure acquired from conferences and sensitisation workshops on
HIV/AIDS, made him not to jump straight into taking ARVs. However, he
says more than half of his income goes into sourcing for food in order
to have a balanced diet to keep his health status intact.

He describes the prevalence rate in the state as alarming because
reports of deaths of members of his group are not rare. He is also
worried that the CD4 count machine used for tests is only one in the
whole state despite the increasing number of people being infected. His
appeal: "The government should know that HIV positive people are not yet
dead. They can work like any other person, all they need is
psychological and physical support. But if they are left uncatered for,
they spread the virus the more, so I call on the government to help us.
In some states, they give food supplement PLWHAs, but here we have not
started anything".

Earlier at the mock tribunal, Mr. Ado Solomon, state secretary of the
AIDS Control Agency and director of the National Orientation Agency in
the state, who was the guest speaker, said the state's prevalence rate
of 6.8 per cent was higher than the national rate of 5.0 per cent.
"Thus, the state government in cooperation with NACA, development
partner organisations, NGOs and civil society organisations constituted
a multi-sectoral coordinating the State Action Committee on AIDS (SACA)
to reflect current realities and best practices from other parts of the
world in response to the AIDS pandemic. The prevention of new
infections, while halting the spread of existing infection remains a
major element of interventions undertaken to date", Solomon said.

He said the high level of awareness created through the mass media
among the populace has not been matched by corresponding change in
behaviour for prevention, nor has it translated into a slowing down of
the epidemic.

He disclosed that in the process of the development of the SEEDS
document for the state in line with the Millennium Development Goals, a
number of intervention strategies were proposed. These, he said, include
promoting a multi-sectoral response to the pandemic, greater involvement
of people living with HIV/AIDS in programme activities, involvement of
traditional and religious institutions and increasing social safety nets
and projects for people affected by the disease in communities and
localities across the state by 10 per cent by 2007 particularly through
poverty alleviation projects.

Others are to reduce the mother-to-child transmission by 28 per cent by
2007 among pregnant women in the state; establishment of VCCT centres in
the state; increase in awareness and sensitisation of the general public
on the mode of transmission of the disease and provision of access, care
and support to people living with HIV/AIDS including ARVs for orphans
and vulnerable children; develop community-level intervention in
collation with other stakeholders and partners and increase
collaboration among stakeholders and source for funding to support
programmes in the state, among several others.

"The greatest challenge for us is to have the right and access to
HIV/AIDS-related care for poor and excluded people, especially women and
children. We want the money to work in order to see tangible benefits
for those in whose name the money is raised", he says.

However, in his speech, Mr. Patrick Kwakfut, secretary general of CHAN,
said reports from churches, mosques and mission health institutions in
the state paint a gory picture of the pandemic. "The people who are
afflicted by HIV are our church members, they worship with us at the
same mosque, but the health institutions are often ill equipped to
adequately cater for patients," he said.

He said CHAN had resolved that something must be done to control
further spread of the pandemic in the state. Following from this,
Kwakfut said CHAN had established an HIV/AIDS state advocacy committee
in the state to spear head the advocacy drive for PLHWAs.

"Further more, judging from the various reports received and critically
analysed so far, there is a yawning gap between government allocation of
funds to faith-based organisations and civil society organisations and
the demand of HIV/AIDS services which needs to be met. We also observed
that a state with a population of more than two million with such a
large army of HIV positive persons, more CD4 count machines are required
in the state", he said.

He decried the high cost of ARVs in the state even when the centre
where it could be assessed is located only in Gombe town. He stated his
reasons for establishing the advocacy committee and holding the tribunal
thus: "We strongly believe that the state and local governments will
step up budget allocation to health in the state in line with the Abuja
2000 agreement of 20 heads of state that they will allocate 15 per cent
of their total budget to the health sector. We believe that more
subventions to the FBOs and CSOs are possible", the secretary general
noted.

He commended the state government for allocating 6 per cent of its
budget to healthcare and urged it to move towards achieving the 15 per
cent mark for other states in the country to emulate.

Also speaking on the occasion, Mr. David Omorebokhae, CHAN advocacy
manager, said for over three decades, the organisation has been in the
business of providing health services and drugs to Nigerians through
their registered member institutions. He said these centres are about
400 with over 4,000 health outreaches throughout Nigeria.

He said CHAN was collaborating with Christian AID to increase the
quality and quantity of HIV-related services in Kogi and Gombe states.

Omorebokhae said the objective of the project include improving
government's allocation of resources for HIV/AIDS programmes to mission
hospitals in response to advocacy from the committee; improve
transparency, accountability in HIV/AIDS budgeting in the two states;
improve the quality and quantity of HIV/AIDS services the mission
institutions provide.

He said the project has recorded remarkable feats in the area of
increased budgets, creation of awareness, provision of ARVs, VCTs and
CD4 Count Machines in the two states.

Delivering his verdict, the tribunal judge, Mr. Rotimi A. Williams,
after receiving testimonies from interested stakeholders in Gombe state,
noted that: "In evaluating the evidence before me, I found out that in
Gombe State, we are no where near reducing the 6.8 per cent of the
HIV/AIDS population. From the evidence given, no statutory allocation
specifically for the control of the disease.

"The state government and local government councils are in breach of
their promises to the populace and more so, the oath of office taken by
the executive and legislators.

"I urge an affirmative and wholistic actions by the state government
and local government councils. More grassroots support and enlightenment
have to be made by all stakeholders in the control of HIV/AIDS in the
state. Statutory allocation should be done in the state without
discrimination".