and malarial control says the screening will help many Nigerians know their HIV status and push for early treatment and prevention
- Also, the director-general said several communities and its members across Nigeria have played a significant role in the national response to HIV since its inception
The lawmaker representing Lafia/Obi Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Dahiru Sariki, has said that health workers in Nigeria will begin a house-to-house HIV/AIDS screening in communities in the Federal Capital Territory.
Sariki, who is the chairman of the house committee on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malarial control said the screening will help ensure that a good number of Nigerians ascertain their HIV status and push for early treatment and prevention.
Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday, November 20, at a press conference organised by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) to commemorate the World AIDS Day, Sariki urged the agency to ensure that more Nigerians are captured in the screening process.
Aliyu said these communities include networks of people living with or affected by HIV, women and young people, peer educators, counsellors, community health workers, door-to-door service providers, civil society organizations, religious and traditional leaders, policymakers and activists.
The director-general said several communities and its members across Nigeria have played a significant role in the national response to HIV since its inception.
He said while Nigeria accounts for more than half of new infections and deaths from AIDS-related illness, less than 40 per cent of Nigerian adolescent and young people have the appropriate knowledge and comprehensive knowledge about HIV.
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