By Charles Akpeji
Jalingo — The leadership of the two major
religions in Taraba state are presently leaving no
stone unturned to Promote male involvement in
the Elimination of Mother-To-Child Transmission
(eMTCT) of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus
(HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
(AIDS) in the state.
The clerics who are as well effectively using their
position to encourage pregnant women in their
congregations to assess Anti-Natal Care (ANC)
facilities in their various domains believed they
have great roles to play in preventing the spread
of the epidemics.
Speaking with The Guardian, the senior Pastor of
the Daystar Covenant Assembly, Tony Garba
Dorofi, said the church is doing all thing possible
to educate its members on the important of
assess HIV/AIDS facilities in the state.
According to him " in the church what I preach
and teach is for the pregnant women to always
go for ANC check" adding that " I always refer
them to the Jalingo specialist hospital."
Noting that the church prefers the specialist
hospital for its members to assess for any form
of test and treatment, the church as stated by
him " discouraged its members from patronizing
private hospitals."
This according to him was necessitated following
the ill practices going on in private hospital
scattered across the state some of whom in his
word " have lose their ethical procedures."
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Though the church has not ceased praying for
pregnant women but the need for the women to
as well play their roles, he said can no longer be
overemphasized stating that " even though I will
pray for them, I must make sure I see the reports
of their ANC."
Apart from the financial supports he said the
church often rendered pregnant mothers, the
church as made known by him, go extra
legitimate miles to " encourage male partners to
accompany their wives to ANC and labour
rooms."
Citing parts of the book of Job, the church, he
said " always encourages discordant couples to
stay together happily without any form of
discrimination stating that " it is a natural
phenomenon, accept your wife and comfort her.
If it happens we go into prayers, we counsel
them to see reasons why they should stay
together because it is not death sentences and
it's not the end of their lives."
The church as further made known by him
preaches and teaches " against stigmatization
and discrimination against persons living with
HIV/AIDS" stressing that " every disease in the
world is contagious and can be transmitted."
Calling on churches all over to as a matter of
urgency take cue by educating their members
that " HIV/AIDS is not an airborne disease" he
noted that " it s useless stigmatize HIV/AIDS
person."
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Aligning his weight to that of Dorofi, an Islamic
Cleric, Kadir Umar, said " Islam is against
discrimination or stigmatization of persons living
with any kind of disease"
"In the Mosque where I presides, I took it as a
responsibility to encourage our males
worshippers to follow their wives to hospitals
during ANC days and I thank the Almighty Allah
that majority of them are adhering to that."
Unlike Dorofi that encourages worshippers to
patronized specialist hospital and eschew private
hospital, Umar said " we asked them to
patronized good hospitals and not any how
hospitals."
The Mosque according to him is at the forefront
of promoting male participation in the elimination
of HIV/AIDS " by charging all of them to try and
know their status as that would go a long way
to minimize the spread."
Other clerics from both religions who made their
minds known to our reporter on the
aforementioned issues also beckoned at the
state government to intensify sensitization
campaign in the nooks and crannies of the state
as well as in the Internally Displaced Persons