HIV / AIDS: Ekiti To Establish ART Centres In All Senatorial District

The launching of the South West zone of the National Women Coalition Against AIDS {NAWOCA}in Ado-Ekiti recently by the wife of the President, Hajia Turai Yar'Adua marked another concerted effort at curtailing the spread of the virus in the south west zone.
NAWOCA which is the baby of the First Lady is expected to provide a platform for women to get involved in the eradication of the disease having realized that women and children are more prone to the disease. Already, plans are on to establish one ART Centre in each of the senatorial district of the state to enable more people have access to the service of the centre and to further bring the centre closer to the people at the grassroots.
 Ekiti state, according to the governor, Mr. .Segun Oni, has not only reduce the prevalent rate of the virus from 2.5 percent in 2005 to 1.6 in 2008, it has gone further to establish an Anti-Retroviral Theraphy Centre to take care of People Living Positively With HIV/AIDS.
The centre according to the Governor, opens every day of the week and ensures availability of ART drugs for carriers of the disease. Oni noted that the importance attached to the fight against HIV led the state government to appoint the state deputy governor, Dr Sikiru Tae Lawal, as the Chairman of the State Action Committee on AIDS {SACA}.   
 The state further demonstrated its commitment to fight the spread of the disease by increasing monthly grants to HIV carriers in the state from N50,000 to N120,000.
 Welcoming dignitaries to the launching, the wife of Ekiti state governor, Mrs. kemi Oni, noted that the adoption of the national policy on women covers almost every sphere of women lives including equity, resource allocation, economic growth, and access to quality health services. This national policy, she stressed was a catalyst to the birth of NAWOCA, an initiative of Hajia Yar'Adua.
She maintained that NAWOCA was further occasioned by the disproportionate vulnerability of women to the HIV/AIDS pandemic saying women and girls account for 57 percent of the estimated 3.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the country.
“Biologically, women are more susceptible to HIV/AIDS infection, we bear the burden of care and support, lack equitable access to economic opportunities and the predominant power relations in our social norms are not at our advantage.
“Coupled with the fact that the girl child has continued to be denied the required opportunities to educational development” she said.
Oni noted that efforts being made in the state to further reduce the spread of the disease through SACA in the state include capacity development for stakeholders with a view to strengthening the state multi-sectoral response which in turn aids the implementation of the programme at all sectors and levels in the state.
 She maintained that the launching of NAWOCA in the south west will ensure full participation of women and stakeholders in the zone adding that women will increase their mobilization drive which is going to ensure that families are well informed about the dangers of the pandemic.