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| Mr Andy Eyo | Chief Executive Officer, Excellence Community Education Welfare Scheme (ECEWS) |
A United State (US) government-funded project tagged: “ECEWS' CDC funded Sustainable Programs for HIV Epidemic Control and Equitable Service Delivery (ECEWS-SPEED) Project' has been flagged off.
The project was launched by the Excellence Community Education Welfare Scheme (ECEWS), a leading indigenous non-governmental organisation that promotes access to qualitative healthcare and education.
ECEWS-SPEED is a five-year PEPFAR-funded comprehensive HIV intervention, aimed at achieving epidemic control in the targeted states, Delta, Ekiti and Osun State.
At the official flag-off of the project in Lagos State, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ECEWS, Andy Eyo, said the project aims to reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality, achieve sustainable epidemic control for HIV across subpopulations and sub-national geographies, reduce HIV incidence for at-risk populations and to the sustainability of state governments and civil society organisations to lead and manage comprehensive HIV programs, among others.
According to Eyo, ECEWS will provide HIV services across the three states. He said: “We will provide HIV services to over 100,000 PLHIV in Delta state, over 8,000 PLHIV in Ekiti State, and over 16,000 in Osun State.
“We want people to know that HIV is not a death sentence. People should come through if they are positive. They should be able to access medications, get virally suppressed and lead normal lives. For those who are negative, we want them to stay that way by living a preventive lifestyle.”
For the Technical Director (TD) of the ECEWS SPEED project, Dr Abutu Inedu, the goal is to attain HIV epidemic control, which is defined as 95:95:95. This, according to him, means that 95 per cent of the PLHIV should know their HIV status, placed on sustained antiretroviral therapy, and are virally suppressed.”
He disclosed that in Delta State, the mandate is to ensure that PLHIV that are already on treatment should remain on treatment and to actively find the missing cases, especially among the pediatric.
"In Ekiti and Osun States, the gap is wide in that HIV treatment saturation for Ekiti State, for instance, is a little above 60 per cent and above 40 per cent in Osun State. This means that we need to bridge the gap by increasing that figure to at least 81 per cent. In addition, we are going to target the subpopulation, which is the major gap in the country”
“We are going to use all the resources available to search for them. We will be testing within the communities, in the hospital, and anywhere they can be found, and place those who are positive on treatment,” Inedu added.
Meanwhile, a Lagos-based rights crusader and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, tasked the government to claim ownership of HIV programmes in Nigeria.
The SAN posited that the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) is not doing enough in the fight against HIV in Nigeria. Though he maintained that there is still massive ignorance despite the fact that the virus has been in the country for decades, Falana argued that there are laws that protect PLHIV from being stigmatised or discriminated against.
The senior lawyer said: “It is illegal for a landlord not to rent a home to PLHIV, it is illegal for a hospital not to treat PLHIV, and it is illegal to deny PLHIV employment.”
Falana promised to collaborate with organisations like ECEWS that are fighting the scourge and to get the Nigerian government to be more proactive while appealing to religious and traditional leaders to join in the fight against the virus.
“I am rendering my legal services to ensure that we enforce the laws in combating this virus, and I am convinced that we can win the battle by 2030.
“I am urging the government to take ownership of HIV programmes and philanthropists in Nigeria and the diaspora to also step in because this program should be run in the 36 states and FCT.
“We need to give the same attention to HIV as Ebola and COVID-19. We would have reached the elimination stage. So, we need to give priority to the health of Nigerians,” Falana added.
He challenged all stakeholders to go back to their states by holding the government accountable for the health of Nigerians.”
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