The Federal Government has sought the collaboration of state governments and private hospitals to Prevent Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDs.
The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, revealed this over the weekend when he paid a courtesy visits to the Governor of Nasarawa State. alhaji Tanko Almakura, as part of his activities to visit some public and private Primary Healthcare centres in Nasarawa State to assess the way the hospitals are rendering antennal care and Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS services in the state.
Pate said Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS is one of the components to save one million lives initiatives in Nigeria.
The minister said that studies have shown that Nasarawa State is one of the states with high HIV/AIDS prevalence and that it is therefore pertinent to the Federal Government to work in partnership with the state and local governments as well as private hospitals to address the menace.
He said: “Ideally, every woman should be tested when she is pregnant to see if she is infected with HIV/AIDS and if she is infected there is an intervention that will prevent her from transmitting the virus to her child.”
He recalled that few weeks ago, the Federal Government sent a team of experts to Nasarawa State to work with the state government’s team on the modalities of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV but that would not be enough, noting that it will be more credible for him to come and have first hand information to see what exactly is happening in the public and private hospitals.
He said his visit to the health centres will give him better understanding of the situation and will enable him to know the type of intervention and support the Federal Government should offer to such hospitals.
Speaking on private hospitals, Pate said that more than 50 per cent of the Primary Healthcare Centres in the state belong to private individuals and they offered Prevention from Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDs services but there is very low patronage.