Aisha Buhari donates food items to people living with HIV/AIDS

The Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, on Tuesday donated food items to Persons Living with HIV/AIDS at the National Hospital Abuja.

This is contained in a statement signed by the Director of Media to the president’s wife, Malam Zakariya’u Nadabo.

According to the statement, the president’s wife made the donation when she visited the hospital accompanied by the Wife of the Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbanjo.

In her remarks, the first lady, noted that though a lot of success had been recorded in curbing the spread of the disease, there was the need to continue increasing awareness on the epidemic.

She said that the donation was part of her efforts to improve the health of Nigerians, particularly women and children.

Stressing that the health of every Nigerian was paramount, Buhari urged medical experts to provide necessary healthcare to people living with HIV/AIDs, in all centres where they were receiving treatment across the country.

She called on corporate organisations, development partners and Nigerians to compliment the efforts of government in the area of health to improve the sector.

She added that the intervention had become necessary to enable Nigeria attain zero level in the areas posing threat to the health of citizens.

She commended corporate bodies and international partners that had made donations to alleviate the sufferings of vulnerable groups and the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Mrs Buhari advised the patients to observe their medication religiously to enable them remain healthier and productive members of the society.

In her remarks, the Wife of the Vice President, Mrs Osinbanjo, said that the initiative of Mrs Buhari would tackle some of the health challenges facing the country.

The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Jafaru Momoh, who received the items, said the hospital had 12,000 patients registered at the Special Treatment Clinic of the Hospital with 9,000 adults while 3,000 are children.

He solicited for more funding for HIV and other related diseases in the hospital.

Momoh commended the wife of the president for the gesture which he said, would go along way to cater for the patients.

The items donated included 1,000 bags of rice, hundreds of cartons of indomie noodles and cooking oil among others.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Mrs Buhari had carried out similar visits to Cross River, Enugu and Adamawa states, where thousands of women were screened for various health conditions ranging from cancer, diabetes and HIV.