NACA - Kwara State Has Low HIV Infection Rate

The National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA), has said Kwara is one of the states with the lowest rate of HIV infection in the country. NACA Chief Program Officer, Mr Tajudeen Arowolo stated this at the opening of Four-day Free Medical Outreach organised by the agency at Oja Tuntun, Boboko in Ilorin on Sunday.

Arowolo said that the North-Central geopolitical zone of the country was reputed to be the most endemic with the highest number of recorded cases of HIV. “This is because of the high cases recorded in Benue, Plateau and Nasarawa states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). “Out of the states in North Central, Kwara has the lowest rate of HIV cases and one of the lowest in the entire country”, Arowolo said.

He said counselling and testing for HIV was one of the entry points for HIV intervention, but noted that Nigerians performed low in this regard. Umoru stated that just over seven million Nigerians knew their HIV status out of over 170 million people in the country.