By Josephine Oguntoyinbo

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The Ondo State House of Assembly has called for concerted efforts to combat the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the state.

It stressed the need for people to be cautious, responsible, and make themselves available for test to ascertain their status for early treatment.

The House Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, Intergovernmental Affairs, and Multilateral Relations, led by its Chairman, Tiamiyu Fatai Atere, stated this during an oversight visit to the Ondo State Agency for the Control of AIDS (ODSACA) in Akure.

According to him, the visit was imperative to evaluate their budget performance, understand their challenges, and ensure a symbiotic relationship to further strengthen the system.

The Committee appreciated the Agency for delivering on its mandate, charging them to do more in achieving the set goals.

The lawmakers urged the government at all levels to strengthen the counselling unit of the Agency and review its laws where necessary.

While acknowledging the importance of the Agency in saving lives, the Committee promised legislative backing for effective service delivery.

Earlier, the Project Manager, ODSACA, Dr. Dayo Adegbulu, who outlined the activities, achievements, and challenges of the Agency through a presentation, informed that the state has an estimated HIV burden of 28,407, of which 20,239 people are currently on antiretroviral drugs.

While saying that the Agency was born out of the HIV epidemic, he noted that the vision is to have an HIV-free society while the global community has made great progress in responding to it.

Adegbulu informed that the Agency facilitated the reduction of HIV prevalence with treatment coverage of 71 percent and a treatment gap of 8,163.

According to him, the key areas are prevention, vigorous sensitization, counseling with much focus on sex workers, HIV testing services, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, care and support for the infected, among others. As of today, the state has an HIV prevalence of 1.1 percent, according to the national survey.

While saying that the Agency is moving towards epidemic control, he highlighted its challenges, including combating typologies of sex workers, weak political will at the local government level, non-involvement of the organized private sector, inadequate funding for youth programs, irregular supply of consumables, and overcoming stigma and discrimination, among others.