WORLDAIDS DAY: C'RIVER NDDC REP RT. HON. OROK DUKE, CALLS FOR COLLABORATION TO CURTAIL SPREAD, STIGMATIZATION

Cross River State Representative on the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Rt. Hon. Otuekong Orok Duke, PhD, has called for inter-agency collaboration between government and partners, to curtail the spread of HIV/AIDS.

In a message to commemorate the World AIDS Day, Orok expressed deep concerns over what he described as "continuous spread" of the disease, while calling for a stop to the stigmatization of persons those that tested positive.

"Today, I join the government of Nigeria and the global community, to lend my voice to this decades-long pandemic. It is also worrisome to see that with government's efforts to end spread, the prevalent rate is still high. Stigmatization is also high and this is responsible for the continued spread because, infected persons out of fear of stigmatization, rather remain discrete about their status", Orok added.

Findings by UNAID indicates that there are over 1.3 million new infections in 2024. This figure remains ulmost unchanged from the year before.

The recent surge is also caused by sudden withdrawal of funding which has disrupted treatment and prevention programmes around the world in early 2025 and those mostly affected are the low and middle-income countries.

UNAIDS modelling shows that if the funding permanently disappears, there could be an additional 6 million HIV infections and an amazing additional 4 million AIDS-related deaths by 2029.

This year’s theme “Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response,” is a call to urgent action.

The world must come together to restore funding, strengthen health systems, and prioritize community-led approaches that have consistently proven effective. Without renewed commitment, the global goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 will slip further out of reach.

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