AFRICA: President wants to establish agency for prevention of HIV/AIDS

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said he intends establishing an agency for the prevention and control of HIV/ADS, tuberculosis and other related diseases. In a letter to the senate, Obasanjo said he sought laws to establish the agency, AFP reported on Thursday.

The report said that according to the letter, the agency would "coordinate and facilitate" the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Nigeria stood at 5.4 percent, the report said. It quoted a new study released for World AIDS day last year as saying that with infection rates of up to 21 percent in some regions, Nigeria was on the edge of and HIV/AIDS explosion.

"The seemingly low rate of national increase is masking the explosive rate of increase in certain areas in the country. For example, in Benue State, the mean HIV prevalence increased from 2.3 percent in 1995 to 16.8 percent in 1999," the study was quoted as saying. "The increasing HIV prevalence is a matter of great concern especially as having reached prevalence of over five percent, Nigeria has entered the stage where the epidemic is likely to increase at an exponential rate if adequate national response is not mounted," it added.

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[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]