Thirty persons living with HIV and AIDS have entered into marriage contract under the couple matchmaking scheme initiated by the Jigawa Action Committee on AIDS.
The Executive Secretary of the Agency, Dr. Bashir Ahmad, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Dutse on Wednesday that the measure was to control the scourge in the state.
Ahmad said the agency, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, had so far trained 50 HIV positive women on various trades.
He said, “The agency is encouraging marriages between the HIV positive persons to control transmission of the disease.
“We are also providing skills acquisition training and resettlement packages to beneficiaries of the training programme.”
Ahmad further identified stigma as responsible for the spate of HIV/AIDS transmission among the rural dwellers in the state, which had risen to 2.8 per cent.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 10 Nigeria die of cancer weekly, Coordinator of the Port Harcourt Cancer Centre, Dr. Kin Egwuonwu, has said.
He also lamented the prevalence of the disease in the country.
Egwuonwu spoke in Port Harcourt while receiving a cheque of N2m from Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to support the centre on Wednesday.
According to him, at least 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer annually, adding that 80,000 of them die within the same period.
He said that 80 per cent of deaths recorded as a result of the disease occurs in poor countries.
Egwuonwu said, “Cancer is the most expensive illness in the world today. It is a fact that 10 Nigerians die of cancer every week while about 100,000 of them are diagnosed annually.”
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