Wike declares free treatment for HIV/AIDS in Rivers

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers on Wednesday, June 26, put an end to the payments of user-fees for persons living with HIV/AIDS in the state.

Wike said that the state government will handle the payment of the user-fees as an effort to help more patients get access to treatment of the disease.

Wike said: “We will stop all fees collected as user-fees for persons under the HIV/AIDS treatment programme. This is our contribution to the partnership with the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We will take over the payment of the HIV/AIDS user-fees for the public health facilities in the state.

“The deputy governor will be in charge of the programme since she is a medical doctor. We are committed to working with the United States government to ensure we tackle this disease.”

“The Rivers State government will take all necessary measures to assist the centre in this current push across the state.

“All the necessary support will be extended to the agency as it work in different locations of Rivers State.”

On his part, Tedd Ellerbrock, the head of the American delegation from the United States centre for disease control and prevention under the auspices of the Institute of Human Virology of Nigeria revealed that not less than 210, 000 persons have HIV/AIDS in the state, but that only 40,000 of them are on anti-retroviral treatment.

He said that the body is introducing a new scheme that will help about 110,000 patients get anti-retroviral treatment.

Ellerbrock said: “The United States government is funding the Institute of Human Virology of Nigeria in this effort and will be deeply involved in all the 23 local government areas. We will appreciate if you will help us with the user-fees.

“We have found that if there are user-fees, people are discouraged from coming forward to seek treatment. We are providing the anti-retroviral drug and the US government is paying for the programme.”