Benue HIV/AIDS control programme gulps N577m

December 11, 2006

Benue State, rated with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the country, says it has spent N577 million on measures to combat the disease in the last four years. The Commissioner for Special Duties and HIV/AIDS, Mrs Rebecca Apedzan, made the announcement in an address to commemorate the 2006 World AIDS Day in Makurdi. She said a substantial part of the money was obtained from foreign donors, and was spent on the management of people living with HIV/AIDS, equipment procurement and staff training. Apedzan, however, expressed regret that efforts to check the spread of the disease were not yielding the desired results. She stressed the need for urgent measures to curb the high prevalence rate in the state. The commissioner announced that the World Bank had recently approved $4.3 million to assist the state to fight the scourge. She described as “terrifying,” the result of a recent survey conducted in some selected project areas in the state, and noted that in one area, out of 150 persons tested, 140 were positive. “This is totally unacceptable,” Apedzan said, and noted that the rural areas had become more vulnerable than before. “We have, therefore, deployed more staff and equipment to tackle the situation in the rural areas,” she added.