HIV/AIDS: Killing the Monster
The scourge of HIV/AIDS in Igede community is alarming and heartbroken. It therefore calls for concerted and concrete measures by well meaning people of Igede to combat the spread of this dreaded disease. AIDS is a pandemic infection, caused by a virus called Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This disease leaves a person vulnerable to life threatening infections called opportunistic infections that in a normal condition do not afflict human being. Example of such infections include: Tuberculosis, Candidasis, Pneumocytic carina and Oral thrush (i) skin infections Kaposi’s sarcoma are associated with HIV/AIDS.
The world’s first case on record was traced to a plasma sample of a man who died in 1959 in the present Democratic Republic of Congo. But it was not possible to identify the disease clinically until 1980s in Sanfrancisco United States of America that the virus was isolated among homosexuals and drugs addicts.
Since then, the disease had already reached epidemic proportion worldwide. The disease afflicts between 300 million to 500 million people annually and 90 percent of cases occur in Tropical Africa. In Nigeria, over 5 Million people are affected and claimed over two thousand lives annually. Benue state is second after Cross – River state and these represent 8 – 10 percent of the total population in the country. Two to three hundred of Igede people are afflicted with the virus and half of this number die yearly.
The emergence of the disease in Igede community is putting the lives of productive sectors at a great jeopardy and most devastating to families members. Almost every family in Igede has lost one or more of their love ones to HIV/AIDS infection.
What factors are responsible for high prevalent rate of the disease in the land?
While various social and economic or environmental issues can be identified, the real culprit is poverty. Until poverty is eradicated, control of this affliction remains precarious and pernicious for most of the active sexually youths, who are more venerable. AIDS affect youths between the ages of 15 to 40 years of life because they engage in more sexual intercourse than elderly people.
Secondly the sudden influx of commercial sex workers from the northern states, due to the introduction of Shariah and Islamic law that forbids prostitution. Most of these sex vendors continue their trade in Igede, most particularly settlement around Ihiejuo market area is said to have high rate of the disease.
Another contributing factor that can account for rapid spread of AIDS in Igede is the establishment of College of Education at Oju (COE). About one in every five adults in the town is affected with the virus. The explanation can be attributed to indiscriminate unprotected sex among the students and teachers for examination favours. COE has actually contributed in no small way in the education advancement of Igede people and the entire Benue State. Traditional practices such as prolonged funeral wake keep where youths turned burials into social functions and parties should be discouraged in its entire ramification because these kinds of activities help the spread of HIV.
Two modes of transmission account in for virtually all cases of infection in Igede. The most significant has been heterosexual intercourse, which is sex between a man and a woman. Spread of the virus has been facilitated by a tradition of men having many wives and multiple sexual partners.
The increased mobility of people has also helped the spread of HIV. Risk factors are long distance drivers, prostitutes, drug addicts and alcoholics. As AIDs has progressed the infection rate grow more rapidly among females who are at greater risk especially younger ones particularly students that sell their bodies for pocket money. Several factors are responsible for this spread. First and foremost, condom use is limited, either because of its protective value is unknown or because it is disliked or due to complete ignorance.
Similarly, the old men seek to have sex with even younger girls young enough to be their daughters, in the belief that they are not already infected and because of this, rape are on the rise.
The increase of HIV among women brings about mother to child transmission. More and more babies are entering the world infected, and many healthy newborns are infected through their mother’s milk.
Transmission through homosexual sex and intravenous drugs use are uncommon in Igede community. Indiscriminate blood transfusions in the clinics and hospital help in the spread of the disease in the land.
The socio-economic and political impacts of this dreaded epidemic in Igede community are many and far reaching.
The population of the youth the most vulnerable are on the decline, leaving the numerically dominated elderly and the too young ones in the society. Number of the orphans is on the rise. The missing adult population has already begun to affect the economy.
Farming is by far the most subsistence means of livelihood in the land. Almost every Igede man and woman does one kind of farming activity of the other. Youths that suppose to farm are victims of HIV/AIDS. There is drastic reduction in agricultural activities and thus increased in famine in the land of Igede. This in turn breeds youths who engage in criminal activities most especially around the head quarter and Ihiejuo axis. This explains the recent increased of arm robbery activities in Igede.
Higher rates of bedridden workers affect the economic and agricultural productivity of families, communities and nation. When the bread winner of the family is no more, children are left orphans and feeding becomes a great problem. Girls from such poor families are constantly traffic to towns as commercial sex workers and to engage in menial jobs, exposing them to further risk of rape and early teenage pregnancy. Abortion is also on the rise among these categories of the population.
Premature death due to the complications of abortions is a daily occurrence. The missing adult has already begun to affect the teaching profession and work force. AIDS is now by far the leading cause of death among teachers.
What are the major steps that must be taken to stop the scourge of the disease?
AIDS has known no cure; therefore prevention is the best method of controlling the disease. All hands must be on deck to achieve the set goal. Religious leader, traditional rulers and politicians must be directly involved in the eradication of HIV/AIDS in the land. Every 1st of December is dedicated to HIV/AIDS awareness worldwide and effort should be directed in this direction.
The ABC mode of prevention should be employed. First, abstinence from sex as much as possible - young girls should say no to sex before marriage and boys must zip up. Avoid casual unprotected sex.
Be faithful to your partner. Avoid multiple sexual partners. Next is the use of condoms. Condoms must be available in every secondary school in Igede. Voluntary testing and counseling should be made compulsory for all the workers and students in both the secondary and primary schools in Igede. Knowing the HIV status of individual is of great importance to determine the zero-position and provide them with drugs.
A number of antiretroviral drugs (ARV) have been developed to suppress HIV replication. When the drugs are administered, they block protease defective HIV from those that are unable to infect new cells. The General Hospital Oju is a center for ARV therapy. Since coming into operation, they have recorded over five hundred patients who are currently on treatment. AIDS awareness campaign committee and action on AIDS should be established in the Local Government Area. Campaign and education on AIDS should be mounted in churches, markets and other public places. Help to spread the news and not the virus.
Dr. Eru Ukonu Emmanuel was a Guest Columnist on Health in the defunct: The Congress Magazine. This article was published in the May, 2009 edition of the Magazine.
The scourge of HIV/AIDS in Igede community is alarming and heartbroken. It therefore calls for concerted and concrete measures by well meaning people of Igede to combat the spread of this dreaded disease. AIDS is a pandemic infection, caused by a virus called Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This disease leaves a person vulnerable to life threatening infections called opportunistic infections that in a normal condition do not afflict human being. Example of such infections include: Tuberculosis, Candidasis, Pneumocytic carina and Oral thrush (i) skin infections Kaposi’s sarcoma are associated with HIV/AIDS.
The world’s first case on record was traced to a plasma sample of a man who died in 1959 in the present Democratic Republic of Congo. But it was not possible to identify the disease clinically until 1980s in Sanfrancisco United States of America that the virus was isolated among homosexuals and drugs addicts.
Since then, the disease had already reached epidemic proportion worldwide. The disease afflicts between 300 million to 500 million people annually and 90 percent of cases occur in Tropical Africa. In Nigeria, over 5 Million people are affected and claimed over two thousand lives annually. Benue state is second after Cross – River state and these represent 8 – 10 percent of the total population in the country. Two to three hundred of Igede people are afflicted with the virus and half of this number die yearly.
The emergence of the disease in Igede community is putting the lives of productive sectors at a great jeopardy and most devastating to families members. Almost every family in Igede has lost one or more of their love ones to HIV/AIDS infection.
What factors are responsible for high prevalent rate of the disease in the land?
While various social and economic or environmental issues can be identified, the real culprit is poverty. Until poverty is eradicated, control of this affliction remains precarious and pernicious for most of the active sexually youths, who are more venerable. AIDS affect youths between the ages of 15 to 40 years of life because they engage in more sexual intercourse than elderly people.
Secondly the sudden influx of commercial sex workers from the northern states, due to the introduction of Shariah and Islamic law that forbids prostitution. Most of these sex vendors continue their trade in Igede, most particularly settlement around Ihiejuo market area is said to have high rate of the disease.
Another contributing factor that can account for rapid spread of AIDS in Igede is the establishment of College of Education at Oju (COE). About one in every five adults in the town is affected with the virus. The explanation can be attributed to indiscriminate unprotected sex among the students and teachers for examination favours. COE has actually contributed in no small way in the education advancement of Igede people and the entire Benue State. Traditional practices such as prolonged funeral wake keep where youths turned burials into social functions and parties should be discouraged in its entire ramification because these kinds of activities help the spread of HIV.
Two modes of transmission account in for virtually all cases of infection in Igede. The most significant has been heterosexual intercourse, which is sex between a man and a woman. Spread of the virus has been facilitated by a tradition of men having many wives and multiple sexual partners.
The increased mobility of people has also helped the spread of HIV. Risk factors are long distance drivers, prostitutes, drug addicts and alcoholics. As AIDs has progressed the infection rate grow more rapidly among females who are at greater risk especially younger ones particularly students that sell their bodies for pocket money. Several factors are responsible for this spread. First and foremost, condom use is limited, either because of its protective value is unknown or because it is disliked or due to complete ignorance.
Similarly, the old men seek to have sex with even younger girls young enough to be their daughters, in the belief that they are not already infected and because of this, rape are on the rise.
The increase of HIV among women brings about mother to child transmission. More and more babies are entering the world infected, and many healthy newborns are infected through their mother’s milk.
Transmission through homosexual sex and intravenous drugs use are uncommon in Igede community. Indiscriminate blood transfusions in the clinics and hospital help in the spread of the disease in the land.
The socio-economic and political impacts of this dreaded epidemic in Igede community are many and far reaching.
The population of the youth the most vulnerable are on the decline, leaving the numerically dominated elderly and the too young ones in the society. Number of the orphans is on the rise. The missing adult population has already begun to affect the economy.
Farming is by far the most subsistence means of livelihood in the land. Almost every Igede man and woman does one kind of farming activity of the other. Youths that suppose to farm are victims of HIV/AIDS. There is drastic reduction in agricultural activities and thus increased in famine in the land of Igede. This in turn breeds youths who engage in criminal activities most especially around the head quarter and Ihiejuo axis. This explains the recent increased of arm robbery activities in Igede.
Higher rates of bedridden workers affect the economic and agricultural productivity of families, communities and nation. When the bread winner of the family is no more, children are left orphans and feeding becomes a great problem. Girls from such poor families are constantly traffic to towns as commercial sex workers and to engage in menial jobs, exposing them to further risk of rape and early teenage pregnancy. Abortion is also on the rise among these categories of the population.
Premature death due to the complications of abortions is a daily occurrence. The missing adult has already begun to affect the teaching profession and work force. AIDS is now by far the leading cause of death among teachers.
What are the major steps that must be taken to stop the scourge of the disease?
AIDS has known no cure; therefore prevention is the best method of controlling the disease. All hands must be on deck to achieve the set goal. Religious leader, traditional rulers and politicians must be directly involved in the eradication of HIV/AIDS in the land. Every 1st of December is dedicated to HIV/AIDS awareness worldwide and effort should be directed in this direction.
The ABC mode of prevention should be employed. First, abstinence from sex as much as possible - young girls should say no to sex before marriage and boys must zip up. Avoid casual unprotected sex.
Be faithful to your partner. Avoid multiple sexual partners. Next is the use of condoms. Condoms must be available in every secondary school in Igede. Voluntary testing and counseling should be made compulsory for all the workers and students in both the secondary and primary schools in Igede. Knowing the HIV status of individual is of great importance to determine the zero-position and provide them with drugs.
A number of antiretroviral drugs (ARV) have been developed to suppress HIV replication. When the drugs are administered, they block protease defective HIV from those that are unable to infect new cells. The General Hospital Oju is a center for ARV therapy. Since coming into operation, they have recorded over five hundred patients who are currently on treatment. AIDS awareness campaign committee and action on AIDS should be established in the Local Government Area. Campaign and education on AIDS should be mounted in churches, markets and other public places. Help to spread the news and not the virus.
Dr. Eru Ukonu Emmanuel was a Guest Columnist on Health in the defunct: The Congress Magazine. This article was published in the May, 2009 edition of the Magazine.
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