TheCable

The sale of condoms has dropped in Zamfara state ─ and, ironically, HIV/AIDS is also on the decline, according to government officials.

A lecturer at the Zamfara State School of Health Technology, Tsafe, Mallam Nura Zurmi, told NAN on Friday that “we have observed that… the use of condoms has dropped as the sale of condoms had reduced in chemists”.

Nura said students at both senior secondary and tertiary institutions now organise dramas and other methods of advising themselves to guard against HIV/AIDS.

The commissioner of information, Alhaji Ibrahim Birnin-Magaji, said it was “fast declining”.

He said this was as a result of awareness campaigns embarked upon by the state government.

“We carried out these campaigns at any given opportunity including public functions, schools, motor parks, radio and television drama and jingles,” he said.

He said the effort had impacted significantly on the public in the state as the prevalence rate had dropped from 2.1 in 2012 to 0.4 in 2013.

He said even though national and international support in the fight against the disease had reduced, “we are very confident that the scourge would be a thing of the past, more especially that the Sharia legal system being operated in the state is also playing a significant role in moulding people’s behaviours”.

The commissioner however appealed to donor organisations both within and outside the nation to continue assisting the state government in its effort against spread of the disease noting that it was not only through sexual intercourse that one gets infected.

When NAN conducted a survey at some chemists in the state capital, Gusau, many of the chemists said cases of sexually transmitted diseases had reduced “as you know many people prefer coming to chemists with venereal diseases than going to hospitals”.