CBC Health Board hails low HIV/AIDS prevalence in Batibo

The HIV Free North West /South West project of the CBC Health Board has hailed the population of Batibo and encouraged them to continue best practices that will prevent them from contracting HIV/AIDS.

This was deduced from the statistics tabled by the Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission team, after a Voluntary Counseling and Testing session that screened 924 people in the area recently.

According to the statistics, the prevalence rate stands at 2% in the general population, coupled with the good news of limited prevalence amongst pregnant women.

The information was deduced from statistics obtained from different sites in the subdivision such as Batibo district hospital, Presbyterian Church hall Batibo, Ashong Baptist health center, St Joseph Catholic Health Centres Widikum and Enyoh.

Out of the 924 persons screened, there were eight pregnant women, who took home a parcel each for participation. The 17 persons representing 2% who tested HIV positive received appropriate care and treatment directives.

Though screening ended shortly after, free screening for pregnant women continued at various health facilities.

Considering the success registered during this period, the coordinator planned another outreach voluntary counseling and testing in other communities such as Larrinji in Batibo health district to reach out to the population.

Judging by these results, it would be beneficial to continue to sensitize more people in these communities to enable proper management of those infected and ensure that people respect preventive measures.

To achieve this, the PMTCT team used the last World Aids Week as a forum to intensify such sensitization via local community radio programmes on “Voice of Moghamo”; carried out announcements in churches, and disseminated HIV and AIDS information through public notices.

These activities were carried out in collaboration with the District Medical Officer of Batibo.

The accompanying informative/sensitization march past sent across important messages of Antenatal clinic attendance, male partner involvement at ANC, and general HIV and AIDS information.