Gombe State Agency decries rising prevalence of HIV infection among children

Story from Najibullahi ADAMU

Hassan Mohammed, the programme officer of Gombe State Agency for the Control of AIDS (GOSACA) has revealed that more children are getting infected with the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) through Gender-Based Violence and children molestation in Gombe State.

Mohammed made the assertion in an interview with newsmen after the opening of 16 days of activism to end violence against women and girls in the state organised by Centre for Integrated Health Programmes (CIHP) and held at Evolution Hotel, Gombe.

According to him, the cases of rape of children and homosexuality among the adolescents increased the prevalence of the HIV infections adding that the state governor had in recent time suspended some big names from offices as a result of sexual harassment of small children in the society.

“In SACA, we believe these are one of the drivers towards HIV in Gombe State. Small children and even mad people are being raped. That is why they transfer these kinds of infections to the society. So it became a problem within our society these days,” he pointed out.

Also speaking, a senior manager of CHIP Bashir Musa decried that the escalation of gender based violence would be ascribed to lack of reporting the cases to relevant authorities, saying victims of such violence especially girls face stigmatisation in the society, thereby making their parents and guardians not to report the matter and hence perpetrators go unpunished.

He said within the 16 days of activism, they would conduct series of sensitisation activities in the state to encourage people to report cases of sexual assaults against girls with a view to mitigating the menace to the barest minimum.

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