Leadership (Abuja)
Abdulazeez Sanni
17 December 2008
Minna — It has been revealed that no fewer than two million Nigerian children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
The president of Association for Reproductive And Family Health, Prof. Oladipo Ladipo disclosed this in Minna yesterday, at a Retreat organized by CCM Nigeria- Global Fund. Ladipo who lamented that Nigeria has the highest number of orphans in the world, disclosed that of the 8.5 million orphans in the country, two million of them were orphaned by the dreaded HIV/AIDS.
He expressed happiness that the National prevalence Rate of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria has dropped from 5.8 percent in 1998 to about 3.6 percent in 2008. According to him, "this is encouraging, but we should not rest on our oars." The chairman of country co- ordinating Mechanism (CCM- Nigeria) Dr. Jerome Mafeni, in his address, identified HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the major diseases in the country that may hinder the realization of the millennium Development Goals in the Health sector.
Mafeni disclosed that through the activities of CCM, Nigeria has been able to source for funds which is responsible for the tremendous achievements recorded in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. He however called for more concerted efforts from all the stakeholders in the war against these killer diseases, especially in the area of funding and technical support services.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
