A University Don, Prof Olalekan Adebimpe, has lamented poor community involvement in the campaign against the spread of AIDS.
Speaking at the 2019 World Aids Day celebration in Osogbo, capital of Osun state on Monday, Adebimpe stressed that the community is a major stakeholder in the fight against AIDS, wondering why they are not fully involved.
In his speech titled “Communities Make the Difference”, Adebimpe said that the funding should have reduced if the communities have been participating actively in the campaign.
He advised parents to join the fight by monitoring what their children are sharing on social media, hinting that social media is now encouraging spread of the deadly disease.
Earlier in his address, the Commissioner for Health in Osun state, Dr. Rafiu Isamotu, said the communities must urgently wake up to the challenge and join the fight.
He said “greater mobilization of communities is urgently required to address the barriers that impede service delivery while stronger advocacy by communities is needed more than ever before to ensure that AIDS remains on the political agenda and the HIV response remains relevant and people centres, leaving no behind.
“Governor Gboyega Oyetola has thrown his full weight behind the crusade of achieving the UNAIDS fast-track strategy of ending AIDS by the year 2030.
“Currently, the state of Osun has 12 health facilities providing HIV treatment, 39 health facilities providing prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services and over 100 health facilities providing HIV testing services.
“It is also important to state here that the prevalence of HIV in the state has reduced significantly from 1/6% to 0.9% as reported early this year by the Nigeria AIDS Impact Indicator Survey (NAIIS).
