NIGERIA: Obasanjo pledges to protect people with HIV/AIDS

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo has pledged to introduce a law to protect people living with HIV/AIDS against discrimination in employment and access to social services.

Obasanjo, who spoke at a rally in the capital Abuja, after leading a five kilometre walk to mark World AIDS Day, said it was important for Nigerians to realise that the campaign against the pandemic was a "collective social responsibility".

"The government is currently working on the introduction of appropriate legislation that will make it an offence to deny any HIV-positive person access to social services or gainful employment," Obasanjo said.

"Stigma, discrimination and human rights violations combine to form a vicious cycle: they create, legitimise and reinforce each other," he added.

Africa's most populous country of more than 120 million people also has the continent's highest number of people infected with HIV/AIDS at 3.5 million. Obasanjo said he believed the figure was understated and suggested that up to 4.5 million people may be infected in Nigeria.

There are fears that if the spread of the disease is not rolled back from its current exponential threshold of 5.8 percent, there could be a leap in infections in the country in the coming years.

HIV/AIDS activists have commended Obasanjo's administration for showing a level of official commitment that is unprecedented in the country in the campaign against the spread of the virus. Apart from personally leading the campaign for HIV/AIDS awareness, his government also introduced a low-cost programme of antiretroviral treatment for people living with the virus.

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