By Asma’u Ahmad
The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) has described the ongoing Nigeria Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS) to ascertain the accurate statistics of HIV/AIDS in Anambra as successful.
The Director-General of NACA, Dr Sani Aliyu, made this known while monitoring the conduct of the survey in Awka. Aliyu represented by Dr Priscilia Ibekwe, an official of the agency, said that the agency decided to monitor the NAIIS survey to enable them have firsthand knowledge of what was happening in the field.
Dr Sani Aliyu
The director-general said that the survey was expected to cover 180,000 respondents nationwide, and 8,775 households in the 774 local government areas in the country.
Aliyu encouraged the team working on the survey to see it as a national assignment that would engrave their names in gold upon its completion.
He however assured that most of the minor gaps identified would be corrected in subsequent states where the survey would take place.
The South East Zonal Coordinator of NAIIS, Dr Ejike Nwene, while briefing the Aliyu’s Monitoring Team, said the work in Anambra has been interesting with high level of success.
According to him, the team has recorded 98 per cent interview acceptance rate in the state. “Minor challenges encountered in the state are that most Enumerated Areas (EA) were being displaced by ecological issues like flooding and students being on vacation,” he said.
Nwene said that there were 230 personnel, laboratory attendants, interviewers, trackers and community guides working in 100 Enumerated Areas in Anambra.
One of the team leaders in Amawbia, Ms Ifeoma Onyedika, thanked NACA for the opportunity given to them to work, but complained of lack of adequate incentives.
