The Taraba state Agency for the Control of Aids (TACA), says the need for Civil Society Organizations to join forces with the agency to salvage the state from HIV/AIDS virus cannot be over emphasized.

The Director General of the agency, Dr. Garba Danjuma who made the indication when he received a courtesy call, members of the coalition of civil society organizations at the conference hall of the agency in Jalingo, said no fewer than 46,000 patients are presently undergoing HIV treatment in the state.


It is sad and worrisome, that Taraba state still ranked first among the states with the highest burden of HIV/AIDS in the north-east despite recent significant reduction of the virus from 10.5% to 2.9%.

Danjuma believed that the reduction in the prevalence from 10.5% to 2.9% was achieved following the collaborative efforts of CSOs with the agency, saying that achieving further reduction can still be actualize only if all hands would be on deck.

He urged the coalition to expand more energies in dispelling the myths and misconceptions surrounding Covid-19 pandemic in the state.

The TACA DG, who also doubles as the Infection Focal Person for the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), said the 46,000 patients are among the people that the society considered highly vulnerable.

In protecting them from being infected by the coronavirus, the agency, as made known by Danjuma, have been interfacing with the Network of the persons living with the disease “so that they can protect themselves. ”

More to the strategies so far put in place by the agency to debar HIV patients from being infected with Covid-19, the agency according to him, have as well tread extra legitimate miles to make sure that the patients are assessing their medications as at when due.

According to him, the agency had also developed a strategy where the (HIV patients) don’t miss their medications, adding that they are giving them for more than one month.

Dr. Garba Danjuma stressed that in the past, the agency used to give the patients one month medications but because of the issue of the lockdown, they decided to give them medications that will last them at least three months so that they don't miss out as a result of the lockdown.

Drumming the agency’s desire to “see the CSOs doing more in the areas of Covid-19 ” plans, as stated by him, are already in the pipeline to co-opt members of the coalition into the agency’s board.

Led by its chairman, Joseph Gimba, the coalition who were in the agency to congratulate Danjuma on his appointment as the DG of the agency, said the coalition have “worked tremendously to uplift the lives of the people of the state.

He stated that the coalition have worked tirelessly round the clock to raise no fewer than N400 million which he said was used to implement various programmes across the nooks and crannies of the state.

Gimba suggested that the government should as a matter of urgency fashion out plans to engage them as board members of agencies and parastatals.

Dejected that “there is no government institution in the state that have NGOs on their boards ” Gimba who observed that the NGOs are “only working to complement the government ” said

“we are not working to take over the responsibilities of the government ” hence the need for the government to desist from being scared of co-opting the NGOs into its boards.