.70,000 Infants Infected Annually With HIV/AIDS In Nigeria – NACA

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) has revealed that 70,000 infants are infected with HIV/AIDS through mother to child transmission in Nigeria annually.The Director-General of the agency; Professor John Idoko told Channels Television that Nigeria bears the largest burden of HIV positive women who transmit to their babies.

He said out of 6 million pregnancies annually, 230,000 are HIV positive and mother to child transmission. 70,000 positive infants as the outcome annually, making this group a major source of HIV transmission followed by sex workers.

On the prevalence rate of the HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, geographical statistics from NACA, places Benue state as the highest in the country followed closely by Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Anambra and the Federal Capital Territory.States like Kebbi, Ekiti, Jigawa and Katsina have very low prevalence rates.

Graduate stabs self to death in Lagos

Late Chidike's residence

 Residents of Wole Madariola Street, Aguda, Surulere, Lagos have been asking questions about what pushed Chidike Oyeka, a graduate of Madonna University, Anambra, to stab himself repeatedly thereby taking his own life.

A relative, who wished to remain anonymous, said the 25-year-old had been depressed for some time.

She said, “He did his NYSC in Delta State and only returned in February. Upon returning, he started to act strangely and we noticed that he was no longer sociable. Most times he would sit at a corner by himself and when we asked him what was wrong, he would say he was not happy.

She said, “I do not know the time it happened exactly but everyone had gone to bed while he stayed in the parlour. Around midnight, he was found lying in a pool of blood and the knife soaked in blood.

“His intestines were on the floor as well. From what we deduced, he stabbed himself three times without screaming because no one heard any noise.”

I had like to postulate that a lot of things had happened in Chidike's life that we stressful and traumatic. We are not quite enlightened about 'trauma' in this part of the world and as such we resort to mediocrity.

He just got to a point where he could not take any longer and he snapped. What a needless waste of life.