Flour Mills bolters commitment in fight against HIV/AIDs in Nigeria
Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc has said that as a scientific organisation with focus on healthy living, it will continue to solidify efforts in making Nigeria achieve its objective of ensuring the country is free from the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, (HIV/AIDS).
This is as the organisation said that it will continue to partner with local, national and international organisations in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.
Speaking during its annual World Aids Day, Paul Gbedebo, Group managing director, Four Mills said that the company will continue to join forces with the government in educating and enlightening people on how best to abstain and remain safe, amid the surge of the disease.
“It is important that we keep people educated and informed about this. We need to let people know that even if they have HIV, it is not the end of the world for them. We also educate people to avoid stigmatisation and make carriers feel accepted in the country,” Gbedebo said.
He disclosed that few people living with the virus even work in the organisation and they are not stigmatised. “This is why we keep ourselves abreast on whatever program the government or the state is recommending, so that we are abreast with the latest medical instructions and findings on the virus,” he added.
He explained that the organisation will be going around the community to remind people and call their attention to the fact that HIV/AIDS still exists and is real.
The Nigerian Business Coalition Against AIDS (NiBUCAA) which also partnered with Flour Mills on the campaign brought an HIV positive survivor to talk to people on how best to manage the virus, so it does not escalate to AIDS.
According to a representative of NiBUCAA, the organisation has remained the voice of the Nigerian private sector response to HIV and AIDS on the premise that businesses have collective leadership role to play in the wide multi-sectoral response to the pandemic and other related ailments. HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. If left untreated, HIV can lead to the disease AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).
Unlike some other viruses, the human body can’t get rid of HIV completely. So once you have HIV, you have it for life.
HIV attacks the body’s immune system, specifically the CD4 cells (T cells), which help the immune system fight off infections. If left untreated, HIV reduces the number of CD4 cells (T cells) in the body, making the person more likely to get infections or infection-related cancers. Over time, HIV can destroy so many of these cells that the body can’t fight off infections and disease.
These opportunistic infections or cancers take advantage of a very weak immune system and signal that the person has AIDS, the last state of HIV infection.
No effective cure for HIV currently exists, but with proper treatment and medical care, HIV can be controlled. The medicine used to treat HIV is called antiretroviral therapy or ART. If taken the right way, every day, this medicine can dramatically prolong the lives of many people with HIV, keep them healthy, and greatly lower their chance of transmitting the virus to others. Today, a person who is diagnosed with HIV, treated before the disease is far advanced, and stays on treatment can live a nearly as long as someone who does not have HIV.
Ifeoma Okeke