United States First Lady Laura Bush announced on Wednesday that Nigeria will receive $163-million in US assistance to fight Aids as she heard a young woman at a small Aids clinic tell how medications helped her avoid death from the disease.
Bush, standing next to four cartons of anti-retroviral drugs, visited health workers and Aids patients at St Mary’s hospital on the dusty outskirts of the capital, Abuja.
The four boxes — enough to treat 500 people — is the first US-backed shipment of the drugs St Mary’s has received through the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar).
Laura Bush sat under the shade of a tree to hear the stories of clinic workers and patients, including Toyin Yomi (26), whose frail body was clad in a colourful navy dress and shawl. She tested positive for HIV in 1999 and started her first round of drug treatment in 2003.
Bush nodded as the woman, who spoke in a near whisper, told her tragic yet uplifting story. When stocks of the drug Yomi was taking were depleted, she nearly died three times. Yomi, who has been hospitalised a number of times, started a second round of drugs in April 2004 and is back on her feet.
”It’s really important for people who are HIV-positive to reach out to let other people know that they can be tested, they can find out they can still live a life — a positive life, a happy life,” Bush said. ”That’s the message we need to get out around the world.”
An estimated 3,6-million Nigerians are infected with HIV, according to the State Department. About 310 000 people die each year in the country, which has one-fifth of Africa’s population.
Nigeria is one of the largest recipients of funds from Pepfar, but there is serious concern that testing, monitoring and health-care systems are not adequate to reach people at high risk of contracting the disease. People in their teens and 20s account for most HIV infections.
On the final day of her four-day swing through West Africa, Bush met Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo at his residence, and visited a public school where young people, dressed to represent different ethic groups in the nation, performed a welcome dance for her in a courtyard.
Walking past a sign that said ”Remember that the girl child has a right to basic education”, Bush spoke with students who receive US-backed scholarships that help pay for school fees, uniforms and supplies so they can attend school.
Her daughter, Barbara, at her side, Bush advised the students, including one who said she dreamed of being a lawyer, to read many different types of books to prepare themselves for future education.
Before returning to Washington, Bush spoke at the National Centre for Women’s Development, the same place where former US president Bill Clinton spoke about fighting Aids in 2000. — Sapa-AP