Despite overall improvements in managing HIV across Abia State, Ukwa East remains a hotspot for new infections.
This concern was raised during a sensitisation session in Umuahia led by the Abia State Agency for the Control of AIDS (ABSACA).
The agency convened members of the Ward Development Committees (WDCs) for a one-day workshop aimed at ramping up community-level response.
Dr. Uloaku Emma-Ukaegbu, ABSACA’s Director-General, revealed that “Ukwa East leads the list of local government areas with the highest HIV prevalence in Abia, with a rate of 2.48%, followed by Ikwuano at 2.38% and Obingwa at 2.29%.”
She described WDCs as “the backbone of HIV response at the community level” and encouraged them to take the lead on “town hall meetings, market sensitization campaigns, and faith-based outreach programs to drive awareness, prevention, testing and treatment.”
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Emma-Ukaegbu stated that 46,788 people are currently on HIV treatment in the state. She also noted a significant drop in HIV prevalence in Abia, saying, “a total HIV rate in Abia State which was 5.1% in 2018, dropped to 2.1% in 2024.”
Addressing national data, she said the “National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, reported 75,000 new HIV infections and 45,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2023, with an estimated 1.9 million Nigerians living with the virus.”
At the workshop, ABSACA’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Chinedu Iroh, highlighted the importance of prevention methods and emphasized the role of “consistent condom use, to curb HIV transmission and prevent other sexually transmitted infections.”
Another speaker, Ekeoma Akidi, pointed to stigma as a major obstacle. She said, “stigmatising of HIV patients had been affecting the prevention of the disease” and appealed to influential community figures, including traditional and religious leaders, to “discourage stigma in their communities.”