Wife of the Oyo State Governor, Mrs Tamunominini Makinde, says she will scale up HIV/AIDS response to put an end to the epidemic in the nearest future.
Makinde, the Chairperson, Oyo State Agency for the Control of AIDS (OYSACA), gave the assurance at the stakeholders’ monthly meeting of the agency with the Local Action Committee on AIDS.
Makinde, represented by Mrs Oyeyemi Adesoba, said that stigmatisation of people living with HIV must stop in order to make progress in reducing new HIV infections.
“We can do better; we are all responsible for our lives and ourselves. Information and education about HIV are key.
“We are going to work on how to make useful information available to the general public and review the concerns and requests by stakeholders at the meeting,” she said.
In his remarks, the Project Manager of OYSACA, Dr Kayode Ogunkunle, said that interest of the governor’s wife would scale up efforts toward reducing prevalence of HIV pandemic to zero level.
Ogunkunle appealed to the residents to know their HIV status, saying that early HIV detection was critical to reducing its morbidity and mortality as well as prevent future transmissions.
“HIV screening is free in all our health facilities, and early detection help save lives of those infected and prevent others from getting infected.
“Anyone tested positive will immediately be enrolled in the care and treatment free of charge,” he said.