The Professor of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Prof. Alani Sulaimon Akanmu, has said that University of Lagos (UNILAG), is committed in caring and treating human immune virus (HIV), patients in the institution.
He said since 2014 till date the institution has treated and cared for 23,000 HIV patients successfully and still doing more in order to prevent spread of HIV in the country.
Akanmu made this known while delivering 14th UNILAG Inaugural Lecture for the 2023/2024 Academic Session titled ‘the virus and the malnourished red cells, it is a matter of time humanity is set to have the last laugh over the virus’ held at UNILAG, Akoka, Lagos.
Akanmu said HIV malnourishes the red blood cells in the body of the victims and the institution is working tirelessly to see that HIV patients are properly treated and cared for.
He said the days of HIV infection as dreaded infection is numbered, considering what the virus has done to humans God has given humanity knowledge to tackle the virus. “It is very important to achieve epidemic control in HIV is one of our targets”.
“We strongly believe that with the effective use of anti retro-viral therapy, we will be able to get to a point where no new HIV infection will occur. This is because every body that is HIV positive will be incapable of infecting another person and when this happens it will be what we refer as epidemic control.
He said any HIV patient who takes anti retro-viral drug has automatically added additional 33 years to the life of individual because he or she will not be able to infect another person in next 33 years.
He recommended that Nigeria as a country should adopt what is called fourth generation screening kits for testing HIV/AIDS as this would help to reduce the infection spread in the country.
He said ever since 2014 they have enrolled 800 children infected by HIV and they are successfully cared for.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, said it is very possible that Nigeria will achieve free HIV in 2030 but all hands must be on deck.
She it is very important to give scholarship to science students because they would also support the fight against HIV.
