NO fewer than 10,000 persons on Monday benefited from free HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria screening by Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria and Total Nigeria PLC in partnership with Nigeria Business Against AIDS (NIBUCAA) in Onitsha, Anambra State.
Another 22 persons drawn from 10 Total Service Stations in Onitsha were also trained as peer educators on basic facts on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. They were trained to continue with the exercise even after the two weeks screen period.
At the official inauguration of the programme, the Managing Director of Total Nigeria Plc, Mr. Jean Phillipe-Torres and his counterpart at Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria, represented by Executive Director (Strategy) Dr. Jeff Nnamani, said the programme was part of the group’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
He explained that the exercise, which began in 2006, had reached 20 states across the country, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. He said free VCT had been deployed to various locations across Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi, Ekwuluobia and Ihiala in Anambra since May 15, 2017.
According to Nnamani, “Total Group in Nigeria with her partners-Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/National Petroleum Investment Management Services ((NNPC/NAPIMS) has, over the past 11 years, consistently made concerted efforts under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative at responding to the HIV /AIDS pandemic in Nigeria.
“The Total Group is committed to positively impact the lives of Nigerians through health education on preventive measures and awareness creation on HIV/AIDS management. Our fight against HIV/AIDS is a fight to protect our host communities, employees, families, organisations and society at large from the infection.”
He added that this initiative has been adopted by the Total Group as an essential component of its Group’s Sustainable Development Policy and has been fully integrated into their global strategy. “For us, the watchword is prevention, which is far less expensive and complicated than cure,” Nnamani said.
Noting that today the only known cure for HIV/AIDS is prevention, he said this was why the group was confident that with consistent efforts geared towards prevention, “We can indeed, have a near HIV/AIDS-free society.”
The Acting Executive Secretary, NIBUCCA, Mr. Gbenga Alabi, expressed happiness to have forged a synergy with Total Group since 2006 to help in achieving the lofty goals for which the body was set up.
He said the world over, in the last three decades, faced HIV/AIDS, a public health issue that has threatened and still threatening the fundamentals of human development especially in developing countries, which include Nigeria.
Alabi noted that since the first incidence of the pandemic, an estimated 78 million people have been infected with HIV and 35 million people have died of AIDS related illnesses. He put the current HIV prevalence in Nigeria at 3.0 per cent.
He said this was the second visit to Anambra State; the first was in 2013 when three automated laboratory equipment (CD four machines, semi-chemistry analyzer and semi-haematology analyzer) were donated to Aliyi-Enugu Mission Hospital, Ogidi, which is now a comprehensive treatment centre.
“This year’s project was keying into the United Nations 90-90-90 Strategy aimed at providing opportunity for people to know their HIV status. You may not believe it, but around 40 per cent of the people with HIV are unaware of their infection. The only way to determine a person’s HIV status is for them to have an HIV test” Alabi stated.
The highpoint of the programme was the presentation of the 22 trained Peer Educators of the Total stations with the certificates and cultural dance and drama presentation on HIV/AIDS.