NACA Targets 2030 AIDS Eradication Date

BUOYED by the news of the drastic drop in the prevalence rate of the HIV/AIDS in the country, the Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA), Prof. John Idoko has reiterated the determination of the agency to eradicate the dreaded disease in the
country by 2030.

Idoko, who spoke in Asaba yesterday during a visit to the Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, said that in the last 15 years, the national prevalence of HIV/AIDS has come down from a near six per cent to an official three per cent, noting that in Delta State where in 2004 the prevalence rate stood at 5.8 per cent as at the last count in 2010, it was 0.7 per cent.

Idoko said: “We have made tremendous progress. The reason we have been able to deal a deadly blow to HIV/AIDS is because a number of people are on drugs and ensure that it is not transmitted. That is what is happening all over the world. In this state, we have over 18, 000 people on drugs which is very significant. We are hoping that we will reach a zero point which is our campaign slogan for this year.”

Idoko added that it was cause for great concern that Delta is the only state in the country without a legal agency to fight HIV/AIDS, disclosing that the state has $5 million to access from the World Bank in the next years but must set up a legal agency instead of the present State Action Committee on Aids and also pay its counterpart funding to be able to access the fund.

Okowa promised to send a bill to the Delta State House of Assembly within the next two weeks to transform SACA (State Action Committee on Aids) to an agency, expressing hope that the lawmakers will give the bill speedy passage.