Inter Press Service - January 18, 2000
Remi Oyo

Kuti, 43, with two children, says her illness, for which there is no known cure, is worsening. "I am afraid I am going to die", she says.

She disclosed her HIV status in November 1999. Her husband, the maverick Afro Jazz musician Anikulapo-Kuti died of AIDS in July 1997.

Kuti, one of the dancers turned wives whom Anikulapo-Kuti associated with during his life, had offered to help the Lagos State Government fight AIDS. "I confessed because I want to encourage others to come out. I want to be in a position to help others", she says.

However, her public disclosure earned her to be ejected by her landlord and government's promises of a suitable accommodation has not materialised. "I can still be useful before I die so let the state government fulfill its promise", Kuti says, tearfully.

Dr. Dosunmu Adedoyin, Head of the Ikeja General Hospital's Pathology Department in Lagos, urge the government to embark on an awareness campaign in a bid to combat the spread of the disease.

"Government needs to do much more to encourage victims to come out and for more people to go for tests", says Seyi Ogunkoya, a counsellor in Lagos. A Coordinating Committee, with a revolving fund of 5 million Naira (500,000 US Dollars) earmarked for purchasing drugs for people living with AIDS, has been formed.

At the national level, the Committee charged with managing the AIDS crisis is headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo who is said to be "concerned about the growing spread of HIV/AIDS in the country".

Ufot Ekaette, a top government official, says President Obasanjo's office will be directly involved in the AIDS campaign for at least two years. "It requires a multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary approach to put the disease under control", he adds.

The President's worries appears to be based on alarming figures presented by the ministry of health based on a sentinel survey conducted across the country. At a meeting in November 1999, attended by UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Director Carol Bellamy, it was disclosed that HIV was spreading in Nigeria at the rate of one person per minute.

Health Minister Timothy Menakaya said at the meeting that "over 25,000 have died (of AIDS so far). No part of (Nigeria) is unaffected. It is as much a city problem as much as a problem for small towns and villages".

Menakaya acknowledged that the disease which is one of the priority health problems to be addressed by the government "is known to thrive on ignorance and apathy both at the private and official level".

The results of the 1999 survey present grim statistics that places the national average of HIV infection at 5.4 percent up from a 1990 average of 1.8 percent. Only Cameroon, Nigeria's neighbour to the east, has a slightly higher figure of 5.5 percent prevalence rate.

The HIV infection rate in Nigeria's other neighbours Benin currently stands at 2.8 percent, Chad 2.7 percent and Niger 2.0 percent, respectively. Samples for the survey were collected in each of the two sites chosen in Nigeria's 36 states and the Federal capital Abuja, the North Central zone, in which Abuja is situated, recorded the worst HIV prevalence average rate of seven percent. Garki, a suburb of Abuja, recorded eight percent. The North West has the least prevalent rate of 3.2 percent.

In Lagos, the country's commercial capital and home to several Red Light Districts, with a population of about 10 million, the average prevalence rate is 6.7 percent.

The survey says women in their 20s have the highest rate of HIV infection. "HIV prevalence in the 20-24 age group ranged from 4.2 percent in the South West zone to 9.7 percent in the North Central zone".

Young adults, aged between 15-19, are similarly affected with HIV prevalence ranging from 2.8 percent in the North East zone to 8.4 percent in the North Central zone.

"Using the results of the 1999 survey, it is estimated that currently 2.6 million adult Nigerians, aged 15-49 years, are infected. It is projected that by the year 2003, 4.9 million Nigerian adults will be carrying the AIDs virus", the survey says.

Latest World Health Organisation (WHO) report says the disease is devastating Africa. Africa, which has only 10 percent of the world's population, currently has 70 percent of the 34 million global cases of HIV/AIDS, according to the WHO.

"Every country on the continent has to a lesser or larger degree reported cases of HIV/AIDS which everyday infects 7,500 African out of the global total of 16,000 daily infections," says the WHO.(END/IPS/ro/mn/00)
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