November 30, (THEWILL) – The Cross River State government and its development partners, said plans are afoot to bridge existing gaps and emplace user-friendly HIV services across the state.
The Director General of the State Action Committee on AIDS, Dr. Etcheri Ansa, disclosed this in a media parley ahead of this year’s World Aids Day.
This year’s celebration is themed “Equalise to end AIDS: equal access to treatment and prevention service”.
Dr. Ansa, who spoke through Grace Ibor, thanked the UN agencies and development partners for their great work on HIV prevention in the state.
“Cross River State has made great strides towards meeting the worldwide 95% target and the state is grateful to its development partners.
“We are also grateful for the tremendous work that is going on at the local government level to ensure people have access to HIV support services.
“We hope to work with you to close the existing gaps so we can deliver user-friendly HIV Services.
“As we plan towards 2023, we are hoping that all the gaps will be bridged”, she said.
She added that the state prevalence, which is currently at 2% is still higher than the national prevalence and has put the state in the 12th position in Nigeria.
She said the government will continue to work with its partners to eradicate the virus.
Dr. Emmanuel Egbe, Senior Technical Officer, Excellent Community Education Welfare Scheme (ECEWS), said they are committed to taking steps to bridge existing gaps and strengthen collaboration with partners.
He said ECEWS has put in place mechanisms to strengthen existing collaborations adding that continuous capacity building will be done to eradicate the virus.
Also speaking, Marija Rakovic, Head of Office, United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA), Cross River State, thanked the government for providing an enabling environment for partners to operate.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
