A five-member team of the Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) led by the President of the association, Chief Dr. Tinuke Abiola-Oshodi and the Vice President, Dr Fred Achem paid a courtesy call on the NACA Director General Prof. John Idoko in his office.
The association President congratulated the Prof. Idoko for a well-deserved appointment as the Director General of NACA and said the association believes that his appointment will provide the opportunity to reposition the National Agency for the Control of AIDS for effective national response to the epidemic which she said has disproportionately affected women and children. Chief Dr. Abiola-Oshodi informed the DG that SOGON is an affiliate of the International Federation of Gynaecology (FIGO) and highlighted the mission and vision of the association including reduction of maternal mortality in Nigeria by 50 percent by 2010, promoting the health and wellbeing of women in Nigeria, advancement of obstetrics and gynecology, etc.
In his response, the NACA DG Professor John Idoko said the focus of NACA is HIV/AIDS and at the moment the national prevalence rate is 4.6 percent and about 3 million Nigerians are living with HIV/AIDS virus. He said most worrisome to NACA at the moment is the increase in the rate of new HIV/AIDS infection, about 380,000 new cases occurs on a yearly basis which amounts to about 1000 new infections daily and 380,000 Nigerians are currently on drugs.
The NACA DG also said the area of his emphasis is on prevention, behaviour change communications and research. According to him, Prevention of Mother to child Transmission of HIV/AIDS is one area NACA will be looking to partner with SOGON as well as monitoring and evaluation of quality of care. He concluded by saying that all organisations have challenges and that NACA will look into the challenges presented by SOGON with the aim of giving a helping hand with some of the issues raised.
The secretary general of the association, Professor Innocent Ujah thanked the NACA DG for granting the association audience and that the association is delighted to associate with NACA. He informed the DG of the association’s readiness to partner with NACA and did a presentation of some of the compiled abstract papers of the association to the NACA DG. Other members of the team in attendance were Dr Chris Agboghoroma and Dr. Francis Alu.
