2,131 Pregnant Women Test Positive To HIV In Lagos

The Lagos state commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, has disclosed that no fewer than 1,131 pregnant women have been tested positive to the dreaded and incurable HIV disease.

Speaking at a ministerial news conference in Alausa, Lagos state, Idris disclosed that in the last one year, 38,791 pregnant women were tested for HIV, out of which 1,131 of them tested positive. He said the test was carried out from the money received from Global Fund to tackle HIV issues in the state.

“This first phase of the grant was described as the pilot phase and it was agreed that the success of Lagos State in this phase would be a benchmark for which the Global Fund would be in a position to implement in other states in the country for implementation and indeed other sub-national entities world-wide for program implementation. During the pilot phase of the grant (January – December, 2017), a total sum ofUSD9,623,390.08 was made available to the Principal Recipient to cover Procurement of Health products for PLHIV, conduct of the Lagos State AIDS Indicator Survey, Implementation and Technical Support to Health facilities in the 3 LGAs by the Sub-Recipient (APIN) and funds to the LSMOH for Grant Management. The Lagos State Government approved State Counterpart Funds to the tune of 10% of the total grant sum to support programme implementation. By the end of 2017, the support provided through Global Fund was able to avail a minimum of 226,768 persons (+15yrs) with free HIV counselling and testing as well as knowledge of their HIV status, with the cumulative total of 10,623 PLHIV in the 3 LGAs placed on the lifesaving Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART).

“Also, at least 38,791 pregnant women know their HIV status out of which about 2,131 (HIV positive pregnant women) were enrolled for the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission programme,” he said