Frightening! 51.6% Married Couples In A/Ibom Test HIV Positive – AKSACA

In a frightening specter, 51.6 per cent of married couples in Akwa Ibom State are HIV positive according to a report by the Akwa Ibom state Agency for the Control of AIDS (AKSACA).

Revealing the scary figure, the Programme Manager, AKSACA, Dr. Nkereuwem Etok, said the figure is for both men and women.

Nkerereuwem who expressed fears over the alarming rate of HIV/AIDS infections among married men and women in the state, said recent statistics conducted by the agency revealed that married couples surprisingly account for the highest prevalence rate of 51.6 percent while prostitutes and commercial sex workers constitute only 4 percent.

Etok, who spoke during an interactive session with journalists said most couples engage themselves in unprotected sex outside their marital home which makes them more susceptible to the virus.

“We have areas of high prevalence, before the statistics started coming we were sure that the most-at risk population will be the commercial sex workers, we were sure that this group will be the most affected but our data showed surprisingly that married men and women are the highest HIV infections with 51.6 percent.

“The commercial sex workers recorded only 4 percent while those engaged in casual sex recorded second highest with 30 percent’’ he said.

The programme Manager attributed the high prevalence rate among the couples to include denial the existence of HIV/AIDS virus and the fact that most of them engage in sex not minding the status of the other sex partners.

According to him people are still tied to the culture of marrying widows without minding what killed their husbands.