The US government has revealed that 29,936 people in Osun State are infected with HIV/AIDS.
The US government disclosed Consul General Will Stevens, who called for increased efforts to combat the virus in the state.
While lamenting the number of people living with HIV in the state, Stevens called for the state government, medical practitioners, and non-governmental organizations to work together to achieve an HIV/AIDS-free state.
On Thursday, the US Consul General spoke at the official launch of the Osun State HIV Treatment Surge, which was organized by the Excellence Community Education Welfare Scheme (ECEWS) and held at the State Secretariat in Osogbo.
He emphasized the importance of conducting more HIV tests in the state to reach out to those who do not yet know their status, adding that the goal of the surge launch is to reach out to more people and ensure that carriers of the virus begin treatment as soon as possible.
We need a community of partnership. We need the government, police, civil societies and implementing partners. We need more hands in America to work together. It is going to take that combined effort to reach our most vulnerable citizens. Write those people who have been cast aside, those people who are often ignored and downtrodden and work together to find them.
Make them feel safe, and make them feel like they can come and get tested, get treatment and spread the message that HIV is not a death sentence, he said.
Dr. Okezie Onyedinachi, Head of Legal Service, ECWS Project Director of HIV Treatment for Osun, Ekiti, and Delta States, stated that only 16,000 of the over 29,000 people living with HIV/AIDS have been placed on treatment.
Onyedinachi added that all of them must be met by 2025, saying, “we have to do things differently, entering into communities and providing opportunities for people in Osun State to know their HIV status and get treatment.”
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