A head of World international AIDS Day, the leader of Alumma Foundation an “Association of Muslims women living with HIV/AID in Kaduna” Hajiya Aisha Usman has raises an alarms over increase malnourished orphans leaving positively with the disease in the state, calling on the attention of state government ,WHO and UNICEF and other AIDS agencies for quick intervention.
Hajiya Usman disclosed this to some journalists in Kaduna when she visited Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) with some of her members that are Aids carriers.
Aisha said, majority of widows with orphans that are living with the virus find it always difficult to get three square meals daily as most of them lost their husbands through HIV/AIDS related issues.
She said most of the orphans that are with HIV/AIDS carriers find it also extremely difficult to eat good food due to the fact that their mother cannot feed them.
“Many Muslim women with HIV/AIDS have turned to street beggars due to lack of food to feed their orphans that are HIV/AID Positive at home, as they move from mosque to mosque, bagging for what to give to their orphans for their survival”
She noted that Government gives them drugs, but taking drugs every day without food is a waste of time.
Most of the widows that are HIV/AIDS carriers want government to empower them with skills acquisition, to fight poverty, hunger and unemployment .
Aisha appealed to the state and Federal Government, WHO, & UNICEF to support them with food to eat, to save lives of women and children living with AIDS at Rigasa, Igabi Local Government Area, Kaduna State North Western Nigeria.
She said, “Hungry is our major challenge. Since the death of our husbands, and as you know, we cannot come out to voice our problems due to stigma in the communities.
“We want Kaduna State Government to look for the real people who are living with the virus, with a view to assisting them with the needed support,”
Furthermore, she made mention that their number one killer is mosquito not HIV/AIDS, simply because malaria disease is bad for any person living with the virus.
She said, they lost hundreds of their members due to lack of drugs in some years back, but thanks God for the adequate supply of drugs.
A widow with three children, all positive (name withheld) told journalists that she usually spends many nights without eating any food with her children.
She said the lack of support to widows and orphans that are HIV/AIDS positive is becoming more worrisome.
She called on Kaduna State Governor’s wife to come and visit them, so that she could see how they are living.
On the other hand, this year’s theme for World AIDS Day which will be marking its 30th anniversary on December 1,/ will be “Know Your Status”.
Significant progress has been made in the AIDS response since 1988, and today three in four people living with HIV know their status. But we still have miles to go, as the latest UNAIDS report shows that includes reaching people living with HIV who do not know their status and ensuring that they are linked to quality care and prevention services.
Since 1988 , every year, United Nations agencies, governments and civil society join together to campaign around specific themes related to AIDS, .
