By Asma’u Ahmad
The Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN) is collaborating with the FCT Primary Health Care Board and Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) to deliver free medical test and treatment to mothers and infants in Abuja.
The IHVN Programme Officer, Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH), Mrs. Comfort Ochigbo, said this in an interview with newsmen at Saburi Camp in Abuja.
Mrs. Ochigbo said that to celebrate this year’s MNCH Week, components like vitamin A, healthcare services, birth registration, HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC) would be given freely for one week.
“It will help achieve the 90, 90, 90 testing for HIV that we are promoting, we are assuring that 90 per cent of the targeted population were tested. And 90 out of 90 that tested positive for HIV are place on Anti-retroviral Drug (AR), and ensuring that the 90 are retained in care to achieve viral suppression.
“Part of the MNCHW is to ensure that as much as women of child bearing age, pregnant women and nursing mothers are targeted their husbands also are not turned back. We have a good turnout in this camp and this
exercise will continue for two days in this camp. If you know your status, we will do the test and start method, we will ensure there is 90 per cent linkage,” she said.
Ochigbo explained that real time linkage was to identify the clients that are positive and ensure that they are adequately tested and taken to the nearest facility offering HIV services.
She said: “The positive patients will be placed on drugs and while on drugs they are adequately taken care of and by six months’ time viral load is done and they have achieved viral suppression.
“We have structures on ground to ensure that the real time linkage is achieved and we maintain confidentiality with our clients. We have 13 camps in the FCT where this exercise is currently running.”
