On Wednesday, Dr Oluseyi Temowo, the Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA) revealed that at least 9, 579 people tested positive to HIV of the 616, 318 that attended the HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) awareness programme from January to June, 2016. . Temowo spoke at a news conference in Ikeja to mark the 2016 World AIDS Day with the theme: “Hands Up for #HIV Prevention’’.
Temowo said that in 2015, a total number of 599, 560 people were counselled, tested and received results out of which 15, 311 people were found to be positive. The LSACA chief said that 52, 803 people living with the scourge were currently on Antiretrovirals (ARVs).
“These statistics simply means that there are many more people who are not aware that they have the virus, that is why knowing one’s status is very important. “It is a common knowledge that an HIV positive person can be symptom free for 10 years and will continue to infect others, if not checked and treated. “Being HIV positive does not translate to death with appropriate medications,” he said. . "We implore residents to visit all government hospitals within their areas to access free HCT, while HCT trucks will move around to reach other areas for this purpose.
"We also advise people to ensure these various means of prevention- condom use, harm reduction, voluntary medical male circumcision, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, counselling and testing,” he said. .
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