WINIFRED OGBEBO was on tour of HIV counselling and testing sites in Benue State recently and writes on how people are living positively with the disease in the state where the epidemic ranks high.
Augustine Akody is a 40 year-old civil servant. He is also living with HIV. Formerly a health worker in one of the local government councils of the state, he was administering treatment to a patient who he said was HIV positive when one of the man’s old syringes mistakenly pricked his hand.
He recollected: “Already, we knew that the man was a victim. Immediately, I knew that I had a problem, even the man cried for me. But it was too late. I later changed my cadre from the clinic to the veterinary. So I am now a veterinary staff. I started taking this drug since 2008 (anti retroviral). Well, initially it was very tough but I am healthy. I can do other things that other persons can do.
“It did not really dawn on me that I was affected, so I was not taking it serious until I came down with fever. I decided to go to a health centre and told the doctor that I wanted a full test because I was suspecting myself. So when he ran the test, it was not clear and he referred me to the Youth Awareness and Treatment Centre where I was tested positive. So I was placed on drugs immediately.
“I took my wife to the hospital, she was counseled and everything, and up till now, my wife is still negative. My last child is in secondary school now and he’s negative too.” It is obvious that Akody finally got his groove back because he routinely visits the ART Clinic and the Youth Wellness Centre in Oturkpo General Hospital to access treatment.
He said “the services are okay here but it’s very difficult for someone to live with drugs, never will your mind go out of it. Nevertheless, if you’re taking the drug and taking it well, you’re fit and healthy. But we are praying that the Federal Government will find a final solution to it. It’s affecting even the young ones who do not know anything about it.”
Edwina Agada is another person positively living with the virus. Looking vibrant and cheerful, one would hardly believe Agada is married and has four children and three grandchildren.
She narrated her story: “Back in 2005, I was sick and was transfused with blood at Saint Theresa’s Hospital even though the blood was screened. I did not know that the person in question (who donated the blood) is positive and they did not discover in time.
“Later on, in early 2006, I started having cough and vomiting blood. I was tested for TB and HIV. I started anti TB first and later anti-retroviral in 2007. Since then I have been taking my drugs, the right dose at the right time.
“I came to this centre as a volunteer. When I discovered my status, I was having issues with my husband. So I had to leave and came down to Oturkpo where I started volunteering. Later, they interviewed us and I was the only one picked in this General Hospital.”
She admitted it has not been easy, but she has carried on with her life all the same. “There’s nothing I can do. I told my two younger brothers immediately I discovered my status and they both encouraged me though one is late now. I feel normal especially coupled with my job.
“I am in adherence office and I tell them that being HIV positive is not the end of the world. I always encourage them to take their drugs, eat well and live life as normal as possible,” she further stated.
The grandmother identified poverty as one of the challenges militating against access to treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. “One challenge we have here is that many people do not have money to come and access treatment even though it’s free. Some don’t even have food to eat even though they used to give us food in the food bank but it’s not all the time.”
Other major challenges, according to the assistant managing director, ART Clinic and Youth Wellness Centre, Patrick Adikwu, is lack of manpower and funding for laboratory equipment.
He said “staff shortage has been a problem. Also in the laboratory, before now the Centre for Health Integrated Programme (CHIP), Benue, was supporting chemistry haematology but this time around, that support is no longer there. The cost of chemistry is higher than any of these tests and should we ask any of these patients to pay, they will raise the alarm that we are charging patients for care. Fortunately, all care here is free. There’s no way we can tell them to pay anything. So it’s a challenge to us.”
Adikwu, who is the chief nursing officer, also said the few staff available are also not motivated.
“We staff here are very few and the work we do is enormous but we are not motivated. They are supposed to give us incentives to energise us but it’s not done. The management too has a lot of work on its hands. We have to praise CHIP for the work they are doing,” he added.
The CHIP Benue State coordinator, Dr Terso Usha identified stigma and discrimination as another challenge which he ranked quite high.
“Some people do not even want to test at all because they are afraid that if they know their status, they will be stigmatized against. Even those who know their status are afraid to access treatment because of stigmatization. If all these things are reduced, it will go a long way in curbing the spread of the infection and also help the people to access treatment,” he stated.
To prevent new infection, he said the anti-stigma law had to come into force so that people who are positive would know their rights and ensure they are not stigmatized against.
“The anti-stigma law says that if any HIV positive person willingly spreads the disease when he knows his status, he will be put in jail. It also goes on to say that if anybody stigmatizes against someone living with HIV, it’s an offence and he is liable to imprisonment. So if all these come into force, it will help people to come out to access treatment. Once you’re on drugs, it brings down your viral load to an undetected level and the rate of transmission is also reduced.”
Usha stressed that transmission of the virus is still on because of this major challenge.
All the same, the centre receives not less than a 100 people on a daily basis, Adikwu disclosed.
“Attending to them is quite challenging due to the shortage of staff we experience in the state. Actually, series of efforts have been made by the hospital management and CHIP. Today, CHIP is supporting some support staff while the hospital management is supporting some other group. In that way we have been able to combat some numerous challenges we have as regards patient care,” he pointed out.
He explained that the drugs and testing kits in the centre were very okay, with no associated problem and that the HIV prevalence in the state had been stabilized even though there are two or three new cases daily.
He said: “Of course, it is reducing. The new infection cases are very few. We have two or three cases daily and we enroll them into old care going by the UN new treatment guidelines.”
The medical director, Otukpo General Hospital, Dr Omengala Elijah, said many people, especially from other eight local government areas, including Otukpo are benefitting from the interventions.
He explained that because the people mostly affected by the HIV virus are people within the age group of 19 to 30, the youth wellness and friendly centre had to be opened so that the youth could be enlightened and get involved in youthful activities that would help them.
“It’s open to every youth. We have internet facilities, HIV counseling and testing services, free of charge,” he said.
The medical director disclosed that the hospital offers TB DOT services, pediatric care as well as cares for pregnant women.
“Though we have PMTCT, antenatal clinic stationed in the main hospital, we give general care to the rest patients, support group services.
According to the executive secretary, Benue State AIDS Control Agency, Mrs Grace, when the first sentinel survey was conducted in Nigeria in 1991, Benue State HIV prevalence was at 18.1 percent.
Benue State has repeatedly recorded HIV prevalence higher than the national average. The prevalence grew significantly to 16.8 percent in 1999 and dropped to 16.8 percent in 2003 only to peak at 12.7 percent in 2010. But HIV and AIDS response in Benue State received a boost with government and partners’ commitment.
It is imperative that people know that being HIV positive nowadays is no longer like a death sentence unlike in the times past. A lot has changed over time in the last three decades since the emergence of the epidemic.
By: Winifred Ogbebo
Leadership News
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