It was a stunning revelation on Friday, August 4 when the Akwa Ibom State Agency for the Control of AIDS (AKSACA) said that 51.6 per cent of married couples in the state are HIV positive.
The information was disclosed by the Programme Manager, AKSACA, Dr. Nkereuwem Etok, who said the figure includes men and women. 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.
Etok expressed fears over the alarming rate of HIV/AIDS infections among married men and women in the state, saying recent statistics conducted by the agency revealed that married couples surprisingly account for the highest prevalence rate of 51.6 per cent while prostitutes and commercial sex workers constitute only 4 per cent.
Said Etok: “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 per cent.
“The commercial sex workers recorded only 4 percent while those engaged in casual sex recorded second highest with 30 per cent.’’
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 Etok, people are still tied to the culture of marrying widows without minding what killed their husbands.
51.6% Married Couples In Akwa Ibom Test Positive To HIV, Says AKSACA
