Very Alarming.....Over 56,350 people are currently living with HIV in Cross River – SACA

This is very alarming and special attention needs to be paid by young people mostly cos they consider themselves to be more vibrant and active in all works and games that involve sex and any other means one can contract disease. Guys and girls should be smart enough to protect and prevent the prevalance rate of HIV in our country.
The Director-General of the Cross River State Agency
for the Control of HIV/AIDS (SACA), Mrs. Irene
Aniyom, said that 56,350 persons are
currently living with the HIV virus in the state. Anyiom, who disclosed this while speaking with
reporters in Calabar, the state capital said "Today in
the state, we have 56,350 people living with the virus;
we have to update it on a regular basis since 2005". According to her, the infected persons are receiving
anti-retroviral drugs at different centres in the state. She said that SACA had formed a group known as
"Cross River Network of People Living with HIV/
AIDS,'' to monitor the infected persons. "And in this network, we have 80 support groups of
people living with the virus, with a minimum of 25
persons in each group,'' she said. Aniyom said that many people were now aware of
the diseases, due to the activities of SACA and other
groups involved in the campaign against the spread of
the disease. "If you go to various HIV testing and counselling
centres across the state, you will find many people
coming out to know their status,'' she said. The Girector-General said that SACA had also
established Local Action Committees on Control of
HIV/AIDS (LACA) in each of the 18 Local Government
Areas in the state, headed by the chairmen of the
councils. "This is because we found out that the disease spreads
faster in rural areas, '' Aniyom said.#

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