BENIN CITY – Wife of Edo State Governor and Chairman, Edo State Action Committee on AIDS (SACA), Lady Ussieh Osunbor has stressed the need for all hands to be on deck, in the fight against HIV/AIDS just as she reiterated the state government’s commitment to curbing the dreaded virus in the state.
She made the remarks at the one-day interactive forum organised by SACA for the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Edo State chapter, which took place in Benin City, yesterday.
While noting that SACA as part of efforts to assist NEPWHAN, recently helped to furnish the state office of NEPWHAN in the state capital, the chairman who was represented at the occasion by Edo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Wilson Imongan, called on support groups to function effectively and urged those living positively that had not joined any support group, to do so as the state government would prefer to deal with an organised group rather than with individuals.
In her welcome address, Edo State Project Manager of SACA, Mrs. Nogi Igbinoba, stated that the interactive forum was aimed at providing HIV positive people, their families and other members of the public, an opportunity to interact and improve relationships; break the silence around HIV and reduce stigma which many of the positive people are guilty of; establish new bonds of friendship and trust amongst people living with the virus, and in turn promote discussions about HIV and AIDS, among others.
On his part, Edo State Co-ordinator of the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Mr. Francis Osayande, appealed to SACA, to embark on policies and measures that would assist members of NEPWHAN in the areas of skill acquisition and economic empowerment, adding that at the moment, most members of the above body lacked means of earning a living.
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