Malam Barkindo Saidu, the Executive Secretary, Borno Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS (BOSACA), says 3,800 new cases of HIV infections have been recorded in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the state.
Saidu, who stated this in an interview in Maiduguri on Wednesday, said the new cases were recorded after voluntary screening in 15 IDPs camps in the state.
He said, currently, 2.4 percent of the population of the state or about 108,000 persons are living with HIV and AIDS, going by the demographic survey provided by the National Population Commission.
”We recorded 3,800 new cases of HIV between January 2017 to March this year,” he stated.
He said 70 children in the IDPs camps tested positive.
”So far, in the whole state we have about 18,101 new cases of persons living with HIV within this period and only 9,438 are currently coming for the Anti-Retroviral Therapy and counselling,” he added.
Saidu lamented that only a tiny portion of the people living with HIV and AIDs can access treatment because “most antiretroviral centres have closed.”
He explained that only 32 out of the 90 antiretroviral centres were still operational in the state.
He added that the state was only able to achieve nine percent out of its HIV reduction prevalence rate in Borno state within the last six years.
