The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has said that at least 8, 000 people living positively with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Benue State are currently accessing its treatment.
The Acting Country Program Manager, Dr. Greg Abiaziem, said the Foundation has in the last six years of its existence in Benue state dedicated to saving lives, giving hope to the hopeless and impacting lives of the over 8,000 in seven local government areas.
"We have expanded our coverage to ensure people in hard to reach areas know their status and have access to live saving Anti-Retroviral (ART)," he said.
Dr. Abiaziem noted that with continuous support and collaboration, the Foundation is optimistic to achieve an AIDS free Benue by 2030, stressing that the 15.4 percent prevalence rate of the scourge in the state was unacceptable and as such his organisation would put in its best intervention to stem the epidemic.
He further emphasised in his speech to mark the 30-year anniversary of AHF worldwide, the need to scale up intervention to additional 100, 000 people in 11 more local areas of the state.
To this end, he charged the state government to keep the promise by owning the program and ensuring that the beneficiaries who are mainly indigenes of the state have continued access to treatment of the scourge.
Abiaziem also expressed satisfaction that the treatment of HIV has indeed come to a point where a positive patient receiving recommended treatment can no longer transmit the virus to another person.
