<strong><em>Health officers from the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA) and the Excellence Community Education Welfare Scheme (ECEWS) during a visit to the General Hospital Somolu on Monday. PHOTO: ILESANMI TOMISIN ADELEKE</em></strong>
As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen programme implementation, promote state ownership and enhance data-driven decision-making within HIV and public health programmes, a joint supportive supervisory team of healthcare providers from the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA) and the Excellence Community Education Welfare Scheme (ECEWS) visited the General Hospital Somolu on Monday.
The visit aimed to form a synergy on how to accelerate the control of the HIV Epidemic (ACE-5) Project in Nigeria. It will also provide an opportunity to review programme implementation at the facility level, identify gaps, and make necessary recommendations to improve existing policies on HIV/AIDS control in Nigeria.
Receiving the visiting delegation, the MD/CEO of General Hospital Somolu, Dr Mustapha Adebola Quadri, thanked Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu for the giant strides in healthcare and reiterated that the management and staff of the hospital will do everything in their capacity to support the growth of the sector.
Quadri expressed optimism that the partnership with GH Somolu was the best option for the project to make life better for people living with HIV in the area.
According to the Chief of Party from ECEWS, Dr. Adeoye Adegboye “The visit will help improve the integration in HIV prevention implementation in ECEWS-supported facilities in Lagos State Hospitals”.
Also speaking, the State Aids Programme Coordinator (SAPC) from the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Oladipupo Fisher Oladipupo said that the synergy would help to accelerate a comprehensive HIV/AIDS service delivery to people living with HIV (PLHIV).
He said that the synergy would also help control the spread of the HIV epidemic through the reduction of new infections and improvement in the quality of life of PLHIV.
This, he said, is in alignment with the UN AIDS 95-95-95 targets; which seek to ensure that 95% of people living with HIV (PLHIV) know their status and that 90% of those diagnosed are initiated and retained on sustained anti-retroviral therapy (ART), as well as ensuring that 95% of those on treatment achieve viral suppression.