Aliyu Dangida
3 December 2008
Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State has expressed serious concern on the increasing number of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS in the state and challenged all stakeholders to redouble their efforts in the fight against the scourge.
Speaking at this year's World Aids Day, in Dutse the state capital, where he led some dignitaries to have their HIV test, Governor Lamido said special attention would be given to mother to child transmission while government would also introduce healthcare service subjects in all the government owned school in the state where students would be educated about the scourge of AIDS.
He said with the establishment of the State Action Committee on AIDS (JISACA) the state had recorded tremendous success in addressing the pandemic in the state.
Governor Lamido explained that the idea of leading the dignitaries to the HIV test was to enable them know their HIV status as well as to also serve as example to the general public.
Speaking also at the occasion, the chairman, Jigawa State Action Committee on AIDS, who is also the state's deputy governor, Alhaji Ahmad Mahmud disclosed that a total of 16,845 people were counseled and tested in the state this year out of which he said only 266 were discovered to be HIV positive.
He said that according to the 2005 survey on AIDS, 1.8 per cent of the total population of Jigawa State was HIV positive, which according to the governor has now dropped drastically.
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