NACA wants HIV/AIDS facilities for FCT districts

March 9, 2007

The University of Abuja Teaching Hospital has been called upon by the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA) to expand its HIV/AIDS services to neighbouring communities.

NACA chairman, Babatunde Osotimehin, who visited the hospital over the weekend in Gwagwalada, urged the hospital to reconstruct its HIV/AIDS programmes to relate with nearby primary and secondary health care centres.

He said such would provide optimum services to people living with HIV/AIDS.

According to him, government is in the process of scaling-up its responses to HIV/AIDS and noted that the hospital will be properly considered in the process.

The NACA boss advised the hospital management to always involve People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in its programmes, especially in support and counselling.

"The initiative will encourage more people to access hospital's care and information," he said.

The hospital's chief medical director, Dr Nandul Durfa, said the 350-bed facility was providing a wide range of clinical services. He disclosed that 5,653 persons have been enrolled for Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART) in the hospital.

He said the hospital had two support groups through which different communities were educated to ignore superstitious beliefs on HIV/AIDS and now actively participated in hospital's care programmes.

The CMD appealed to NACA to facilitate the acquisition of equipment for the conduct of investigations as a centre of excellence and training as well as drugs and storage facilities.

"Our immediate community is vast and largely rural; most of the inhabitants constitute the most risk group for infection," he said.