By George Onah
Port Harcourt— No fewer than 4,746 people, who are HIV positive in Ogoni area of Rivers State, have been registered by the Rivers State Agency on the Control of HIV\AIDS, RIVSACA, at the resource centre in Bori General Hospital, Khana Local Government Area. Of this number, 99 are children.
Vanguard gathered that RIVSACA was still registering more patients and that the figure may not reflect the exact number of the people living with the scourge.
State Director of National Orientation Agency, Chief Andy Nweye, who led a fact-finding and familiarisation visit to the council told newsmen that the high rate of the disease in the council and other rural areas in the state was regrettable.
The prevalence rate in the state was put at six per cent while Khana council has 8.1 per cent.
Nweye said the agency would deploy every resource at its disposal to combat the spread of the disease in state, adding that the figure was “not only alarming but unacceptable.” He insisted that the society must not relent in checking the spread in view of its destructive nature.
On his part, the medical officer overseeing the centre, Dr. Tayo Olowokere, said Nigeria was second to South Africa in the world in the prevalence rate of the disease, explaining that the focus of the care-givers was now on prevention to halt the spread of the disease.