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Wife of the Ekiti State Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, has distributed empowerment materials worth over N5million to 108 People Living with HIV/AIDs in the state.
The governor’s wife, who is also the Chairman, Ekiti State AIDs Control Agency, said the gesture underscored the commitment of the state government in giving a new lease of life to the beneficiaries.
The exercise, which was the third since the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led administration came on board, took place at the Office of the Wife of the Governor, on Wednesday.
The beneficiaries, under the aegis of the Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria, were given items such as deep freezers, computer sets, video cameras, sewing machines, grinding machines, photocopy machines and clothing.
The wife of the governor pledged the continued support of the state government for the NEPWHAN members in ensuring that they live a meaningful life, adding that a lot more was being done to reduce the HIV/AIDS prevalence to the barest in the state.
She said, “When I became the chairman of SACA, I insisted that in everything that we do around HIV/AIDS in Ekiti State, we should ensure that we empower people who are living with HIV/AIDS and we should be able to tell the people that being HIV positive is not the end of the world.
“We need to set an example and demonstrate practically what it means to be living with HIV/AIDS and still have hope. Testing positive is not the end of the world.”
She appealed to those who had yet to know their HIV status to submit themselves for testing and counselling.
She said the state government provided free medical care for the PLWH to mitigate the challenges they are being confronted with.
The Project Manager of SACA, Dr. Charles Doherty, said the distribution of empowerment materials to NEPWHAN members was part of government’s efforts at reducing poverty and death in the society.
“The beauty of this exercise is that one of the NEPWHAN members supplied all the items being distributed today,” he said.
