Abuja – The Institute of Human Virology of Nigeria (IHVN) on Sunday proffered a four-point agenda to prevent and control the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.
Dr Patrick Dakum, the Chief Executive Officer of the institute recommended abstinence from sex and use of condoms were the best ways to prevent the disease.
Others, he said, were guidance and counselling as well as access to information and medication.
Dakum said this in Abuja at a forum organised by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on HIV and AIDS by the IHVN.
He noted that abstinence and the use of condoms were now used to preach against the virus in various communities.
He said that abstinence was the best approach of a HIV-free society and it has to do with behavioural change.
“If you are prepared to have a risky sexual behaviour, then, be prepared to have a risky virus because you are putting yourself at risk.
“We are looking forward to ensuring that people have access to using what you ask them to use; if you are preaching abstinence, then, the education should be available, people should be careful with sex.
“Condoms should be available too and once you have identified someone who is HIV positive, it is important that they use the drugs and patients must be able to access the drugs.
“Healthcare workers must be well educated on handling the patients and giving them messages whenever they go to the clinic,’’ Dakum said.
He urged state governments to ensure adequate health facilities were constructed to enable community based volunteer workers to carry out their HIV and AIDS campaigns diligently.
“You cannot impose HIV/AIDS on a system that is not working; it is the responsibility of the government to provide laboratories, lab scientists and drugs for infected patients.
“They must ensure that hospitals and primary healthcare centres are adequately staffed and the infrastructure must be put in place.
“What is important for us now is adequate and effective funding; the amount must be right and it must be used in the right places.
“You can have a budget and the budget is not used for what it is meant for and the different states have different needs,’’ he added.
The IHVN boss pointed out that adequate and effective funding would also contribute to the success of the campaign against HIV and AIDS in the country.
“You must encourage patients to adhere to medication to attain virus suppression so that patients are not replicating and transferring the diseases because they have adequate and effective treatment.
“In spite of the Boko Haram insurgency, patients in the North East zone of the country are still receiving their drugs,’’ said Dakum.
He urged Nigerian government and its citizens to form a common front in funding the campaign and prevention of the virus through tax payer’s money.
Dakum noted that Nigeria should be able to tackle the problems when donors stop donating to the project.
“We as Nigerians should be able to take care of each other; the patients should be able to be properly cared for by the nation,’’ the chief executive officer urged.
