JOS - Many residents of Jos have been trooping out for free voluntary HIV testing being rendered by an organisation at the ongoing Jos Domestic Trade Fair.
Reports say that the Institute of Human Virology, an arm of the University of Maryland , U.S.A, is conducting the tests free.
Investigations by newsmen revealed that over 400 volunteers had been tested since Saturday when the team from the Abuja-based institute arrived.
Some female staff of a new generation bank who went for the test told newsmen at the mobile clinic of the institute that, they wanted to know their status in order to free themselves from worry.
Another volunteer, who collected the result of his test which showed he was negative, simply shouted, “I am the greatest.”
The young man, who said he was a psychology student of the University of Jos, said he had gone to take a bottle of beer
while waiting for the 20 minutes he was told to come for the result.
The leader of the testing team, Silas Gurumdi, said, the institute embarked on the exercise because, only 12 per cent of Nigerians had known their HIV status.
Gurumdi, a senior programme officer, in charge of HIV testing and counseling, said those who tested positive were being availed the services of specialists instantly.
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