The Kwara State Government has earmarked N69 million to reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the state.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Sulyman Alege, announced the amount at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Kwara State Action Committee on AIDS (KWASACA) in Ilorin on Friday.

The commissioner; represented by the Director of Medical Science and Training, Dr Gbenga Johnson, said that the government would not relent in its efforts to reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and other diseases in the state.

He also said that the state government would continue to support the committee in its task aimed at curtailing the scourge.

Dr Salimata Lawal, the state HIV/AIDS Programme Manager, commended the state government for adequately funding the programme aimed at reducing the scourge.

Lawal said that an additional N15 million had also been approved to buy HIV/AIDS test kits that would be distributed to all the 16 local government areas to curtail the disease.

The programme manager said the agency would create more centres in the state for it to achieve its objectives.

The Secretary of KWASACA, Dr Lawal Saleem, said the stakeholders’ meeting was organised to deliberate on how all the stakeholders could work as a team to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in the state.

He said the agency’s aim was to design and implement state action plans for the prevention and control of the scourge.

Saleem said that the agency had succeeded in reducing HIV/AIDS’ prevalence from 4.3 per cent in 2014 to 2.3 per cent in 2016.

According to him, the agency has continued to engage in community mobilisation against HIV/AIDS’ spread across all the communities in the state. (NAN)