[ad_1]
Patrick Odey, Uyo
Dr. Dominic Ukpong, Commissioner for Health, said Friday that the results of an HIV survey, that state HIV prevalence in the state was the highest in the country, were a misrepresentation HIV clbadification issues.
The Nigerian survey on the indicator and the impact of HIV / AIDS recently revealed that Akwa Ibom has the highest HIV prevalence rate in Nigeria.
According to the results, about 5.5% of people living with HIV in the country are in Akwa Ibom State, followed by Benue State, where the prevalence rate is about 5.3%. .
Speaking with our correspondent in Uyo, the state capital, Ukpong, said the results were not factual.
READ ALSO: Supreme Court Cancels Candidate Elections for APC, Declares Winning PDP in Zamfara
He said: "The report on HIV in the state of Akwa Ibom was underrepresented. It is wrong to say that the state of Akwa Ibom is the number one in HIV prevalence. This is not how to report a case that causes stigma.
"We deal with the facts. We arrived at the government in 2015, we reached an HIV prevalence rate of 10.8%, which means that 10.8% of people live with the virus.
"Before that date, they had conducted a survey with a prevalence rate of 10.9%. The system used for this survey called sentinel, which means that they have specifically traveled to certain areas, such as prenatal clinics to select samples.
"When you select a very high prevalence, it's because the users go there cumulatively. This is not so that a real investigation is conducted. A real survey is what we call a cross-sectional survey, you have to go at random. "
He added, "When we arrived, the government was very concerned about the prevalence of such prevalence in the state and asked for the opening of another investigation.
"This time, we did not want this targeted survey; we set up a team to conduct the survey, trained them for two months and accommodated them in different parts of the state. This is what we called the Akwa Ibom State Indicators Impact Study.
"The result came out in 2017 around November. the prevalence rate was 4.8%, which means that he dropped.
"The federal government saw this result and tested it over and over again. It was correct and, because of the success of the investigation, the federal government adopted Akwa Ibom's state model for the country. .
Ukpong argued that if the prevalence rate was 10.8 in 2014 before the current government took office and that according to the report of the national survey of the indicators of Last year's impact was 5.5%, which means that the prevalence has dropped by half.
Download the PUNCH NEWS app NOW ON
[ad_2]
Source link
