Experts insist on continuous HIV screening

• Delta orders the establishment of PTAs in public schools
• To train five engineers in U.S.

Medical experts have stressed the need for residents and indigenes of Delta State to know their Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status.

This is coming on the heels of data collated by Caritas Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation that put the cases of HIV in the state at 47,000 against the 69,000 cases recorded previously.

Senior technical leader of Delta State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS (DELSACA), Donald Akpenna; the deputy team leader, Dr. Dorcas Magbadelo; and executive secretary, Dr. John Osuyali, stated this in Asaba yesterday during the inaugural meeting to tackle HIV/AIDS in the state.

To bridge the gap, the NGO has promised continued partnership with stakeholders in the state to reach out to every community in controlling the spread HIV and placing those identified with the virus of anti-retroviral therapy.

“The funding we are getting now is from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Luckily, from this meeting, we have got the commitment of the state in the area of provision of test kits, staffing and the integration of HIV as a general health service rendered in health centres,” he said, promising to use the media as a major means of sensitisation.

Meanwhile, the state government has ordered heads of state-owned primary and secondary schools to immediately constitute Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) in their respective schools to partner with them for rapid development of the education sector.

Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah, stated this on Wednesday at a stakeholders’ interactive session with principals, school heads and Chief Inspectors of Education (CIEs) at Government College, Ughelli.

As part of efforts to keep civil engineers in the Ministry of Works abreast of global standards in the performance of their duties, Delta government will send five engineers to Las Vegas, United States of America, for the 2020 International Civil Engineers Conference.

Commissioner for Works, Chief James Augoye, disclosed this at the closing ceremony of the two-day training organised for civil engineers in the ministry at Gordon Resort, Abraka, in Ethiope East Council.

“The conference will afford the engineers the opportunity to be abreast with modern techniques in road construction, which will benefit the state, while another set of four engineers have been nominated to understudy concrete Mattresses at Submar, West Africa, in Lagos next week.”