More than 50,000 people in Kogi State have HIV/AIDS.
This information was shared by Ibrahim Anate, the Acting Executive Secretary of the Kogi State Agency on HIV/AIDS (KOSACA), in Lokoja on Monday during a meeting with important community members.
Anate said that 36,066 people with HIV in Kogi State are getting treatment. However, over 19,000 people are not coming for their treatment or counseling sessions.
Anate believes that fear of being treated badly and looked down upon makes many people hide their HIV status.
Anate also pointed out that some hospitals in Kogi State are not treating people with HIV fairly. These hospitals are making the situation worse by treating them differently.
He said, “There are 170,000 new HIV cases in Nigeria each year, and 40 million new cases around the world. This is very scary. Treating people with HIV badly is very sad and must stop. Doctors and nurses should treat everyone the same, whether they have HIV or not. People with HIV should not be put in a different room.”
Anate is hopeful that the Kogi State Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo will approve a new law to stop this bad treatment of people with HIV. He also asked religious leaders to help fight against looking down on people with HIV in Kogi State.
Amber Erinmwinhe, the Executive Secretary of Ninerela+ Nigeria, also spoke at the meeting. She promised that her organization would continue to work to stop the bad treatment of people with HIV and to fight against violence based on gender in Nigeria.
She said, “HIV is not the end of life. Many people with HIV have died because they are scared of being treated badly. Religious leaders should teach their followers about the dangers of treating people with HIV badly.”
This meeting was organized by Ninerela+ Nigeria, with the help of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Center for Integrated Health Program. The goal was to create a plan to stop treating people with HIV badly and to fight against unfair treatment based on gender.