GIEDAM (YOBE) – The Yobe State Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS on Saturday commenced HIV/AIDS screening for over 4,000 Nigerian returnees from Niger Republic, who fled at the wake of insurgency.
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Hajiya Farida Mamudo, Executive Director of the agency, said in Giedam that the agency found it necessary to establish returnees HIV status to check the spread of the virus.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that over 6,000 Nigerians, mostly inhabitants of Lake Chad, have returned to the country to pave way for military operations against insurgency.
The order for relocation was given by the Nigerien authorities.
Mamudo emphasised that some of the returnees lost their wives and husbands and may soon remarry to start a new life.
“Some of you lost your spouses and may re-marry again.
“It is therefore very important that you know your status before remarrying so that those who tested negative are not married to those who tested positive,” she said.
The director told them that once they establish their status, the agency would guide them against the various means of contracting the virus.
She said that those that tested positive would be guided on care and support programmes.
She assured the returnees that the results of the screening would be treated with confidentiality and reminded them that the law on stigmatisation in Yobe attracts two years imprisonment.
The director urged them to desist from multiple uses of blades, casual sex and other means of being infected by the virus.
NAN reports that the returnees, who were mostly fishermen, expressed their readiness to go through the test.
Meanwhile, the agency had conducted similar screening for Internally Displaced Persons in Damaturu and Fika. (NAN)
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