Nigerian Government Plans Week To Encourage Citizens To Receive HIV Tests, Official Announces

Main Category: Heart Disease
Article Date: 15 Oct 2008 - 5:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday announced the government's introduction of an annual "Know-Your-Status Week" as part of its fight against HIV/AIDS, Nigeria's This Day reports.

At the opening of a forum on making HIV counseling and testing more widely available to Nigerians, Jonathan said, "In the fight against HIV and AIDS, we are all commanders, we are all generals. The fight against HIV and AIDS is one fight whose rules of engagements allow all of us to be leaders wherever we find ourselves." Jonathan added, "Collectively, we will all fight the war at the individual level, at our communities, local governments, states and, of course, the national level, we cannot afford to lose the war."

Jonathan said the government plans to start the week on Dec. 1, assuring stakeholders that the government will provide "the enabling environment for the successful fight against HIV and AIDS, as the nation marches towards an HIV-free society."

Babatunde Oshotimehin, director-general of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, commended the government's efforts to curb the spread of the disease through increased HIV testing (This Day, 10/10).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation.  All rights reserved.