2 July 2009
Lagos — More than 60 per cent of those living with HIV/AIDS in Bauchi State are women, the State's Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Sama'ila Tela, has said.
Samaila was speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Bauchi. He said, however, that the state government was aware of the problem and had introduced measures to control the disease.
According to him, the state government had increased access to anti-retroviral treatment, and begun campaigns against stigmatisation.
The commissioner further said that the state government had stepped up support services to those living with Aids (PLWAs).
Samaila said the government was now encouraging the PLWAS to marry themselves, adding that no fewer than 110 of such marriages had taken place.
"We have initiated a match-making marriage campaign among persons living with HIV/AIDS in order to curtail the spread of the disease,"he said.
He said that 20 of the 110 couples, who got married in the past year, had been delivered of HIV-free children. "The match-making marriage is to reduce the spread of the disease and give the positive persons the opportunity to live a normal life," Samaila said.
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