Married persons and not commercial sex workers are to blame for the prevalence of HIV in Akwa-Ibom State.
The Programme Manager of the state Agency for the Control of AIDS, Dr. Nkereuwem Etok, stated this during an interactive session with journalists in Uyo on Tuesday.
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Etok said his assertion followed a study conducted by the agency in the state, adding that prior to the exercise, the agency was of the view that commercial workers were responsible for the high rate of the disease in the state.
According to him, “From the study commercial sex workers accounted for only four per cent and those who contacted HIV through casual sex were about 30 per cent. And to our surprise, married men and women were the highest HIV-infected persons with 51.6 per cent.”
The Programme Manager traced the rampant HIV cases among married persons to erroneous belief that the disease did not exist, adding that the culture of marrying widows or widowers without minding circumstances surrounding the death of the spouse was equally a factor.
