HIV healthcare access in Lagos State has received a massive boost with the training of 200 new counselors by the State government.
In a move to further improve the quality of care for HIV patients in Lagos, Governor Babjide Sanwo-Olu’s administration through the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA) has commenced the training of 200 new HIV Counsellors on HIV Testing Services (HTS) for effective service delivery to the citizens, TheConscience reports.
Addressing participants at the event, the CEO of the Agency, Dr. (Mrs.) Monsurat Adeleke explained that the training was the outcome of findings by the Agency during the monitoring and evaluation of the HTS quality of service delivery by Civil Society Organisations in the State on HIV healthcare.
According to her, “The findings identified attrition of trained Counsellor Testers, which has led to a decline in the pool of trained human resources. The outcome of the training is expected to address the attrition, increase HTS uptake and improve the quality of HTS delivery”.
Dr. Adeleke noted that these series of Counsellor Testers’ training will be conducted in five batches of 40 participants for a period of four days with strict adherence to the NCDC guidelines on COVID-19.
She added that the 200 counsellor testers trained would be deployed by the State for HIV testing services towards attaining the first 90 of the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target, with the view to achieving the eradication of new HIV infections by the year 2030.
The CEO disclosed that the training will improve the knowledge of the participants on HIV Prevention, National HIV Testing Algorithm, which deals with the sequence of steps in HIV testing services and the use of Rapid and Oral Self-Test Kits for the overall improvement of HIV healthcare
