₦airaland Forum

Today is World's AIDS day, a day earmarked specially to raise HIV awareness, remember dead loved ones, show solidarity with people living with HIV, celebrate survival and health, and to raise money for HIV and related causes. The theme this year is "The time to act is now". The ultimate goal is to end the HIV epidemic by 2030. To achieve this, new HIV infections should be rare and HIV-positive people should have unfettered access to high quality, life-extending care, free from discrimination and stigma. Mother To Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV should if possible be eradicated. Everyone should know his/her HIV status.

Sub-saharan Africa is said to account for about 70% of the total global new HIV infections. In Nigeria alone, there are about 3 million adults living with HIV and only about 30% of them have access to Antiretrovirals. These adults include pregnant and nursing mums with the potential of transmitting the dreaded infection to their children.We need to eliminate paediatric HIV infections and also keep parents alive. Without any intervention, the risk of transmission of HIV infection from the mother to the baby is said to be 20-45 per cent. This transmission rate can be reduced to less than 2 per cent.

We need to check our HIV status as frequently as one thinks one has been exposed. HIV-positive pregnant mums need to register early at a VCT (voluntary counselling and testing) centre and have their pregnancy and delivery monitored, take the prescribed ARVs. We need to break the HIV/AIDS circle and have a generation free from it. Some of our habits expose us and our loved ones to HIV infection. Top among these habits is indiscipline.

I've seen several very indiscipline people who disregard their HIV-positive status and live careless sexual lives. They tend to say "I no go die alone" and go ahead spreading the virus. That is wickedness of the highest order. Some live in denial after being diagnosed and go ahead living their lives like nothing happened, till it almost gets out of hand then they start seeking a miracle. The funniest bunch are those who don't believe HIV/AIDS is real, I've seen someone at the last stages of AIDS saying it's 'attack'; you know how good we are on blaming everything on the spiritual.

Faith. I believe in God, I believe faith works but sometimes we really tend to abuse faith. Yeah, I believe in the '...moving mountains..' part, but I also know a part says '....faith without works is dead.'. People get diagnosed with HIV and instead of going to the hospital to access treatment that God-so-kind can be gotten free of charge, we go to prayer houses and to Men of God, seeking for miracles. Some abandon their ARVs midway cos someone prophesied that 'they are healed'. I think our prayers and faith should be directed towards finding a cure to the infection.

New HIV infections are reported daily in Nigeria with our cases of HIV-related infections topping the global chart. Nigeria alone is responsible for about 80% of the new cases of HIV-related tuberculosis infections in the globe. We need to be disciplined as indiscipline affects us in every sphere of our lives. Let's stop the spread of HIV, know your status, if positive follow you healthcare- giver's instructions and prescriptions. If you are negative do not stigmatise or discriminate against others who aren't, HIV is not airborne. Increase the information on HIV/AIDS at your disposal.

There will be several places across our paths today where HIV counselling and screening can be done free of charge . Take advantage of one today, the staff there can answer your questions. We need to stay alive and keep our loved ones alive too. We need to break the circle of HIV infections. We need to end the epidemic by 2030. We need to have a HIV-free generation. It begins with you. The time to act is NOW.

The suspense is killing. Nice write up though. Keep it rolling.

Premier League champions Chelsea have pipped Manchester United to the signing of Spain winger Pedro Rodriguez from Barcelona, according to British press reports on Wednesday.

The BBC reported that Chelsea had agreed a fee of £21 million (29.8m euros, $32.9m) with the reigning European champions and that the 28-year-old was on a flight to London to finalize the terms of the transfer.

If completed, the deal will bring an end to a summer-long transfer saga surrounding Pedro, who had been linked to Manchester City as well as United, although it was the Old Trafford club who appeared most likely to sign him.

Pedro scored the winning goal for Barcelona in last week’s dramatic 5-4 extra-time defeat of Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup in Tbilisi.

However, he has fallen down the pecking order at the Camp Nou under Luis Enrique, who has preferred the all-star front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez and has used the Canary-Islands born player more sparingly.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/pedro-to-join-chelsea/#sthash.nkHXKTa6.dpuf

patrickmuf:
former
United States President George W. Bush Senior
was the Chairman of the National Republican
Party Committee before he was appointed the
Director and Chief Executive of the United States
of America Central Intelligence Agency . It follows
that the call by the Peoples Democratic Party for
the removal from office of the Director General of
the State Security Service, Lawal Musa Daura on
the ground that he was a Committee member of
the All Progressives Congress Presidential
Campaign Council is hollow .

You failed to tell us the provisions on the U.S laws on such appointments. In Nigeria, card carrying members of political parties are not allowed to hold such sensitive positions.

Nigeria is one of the six countries whose population will exceed the 300 million mark in less than two decades, the United Nations (UN) has said in a report.

The other countries are: China. India, Indonesia, Pakistan and United States (U.S.)

Listed as one of the 10 largest countries in the world, the Nigeria is said to have a population believed to be growing the most rapid.

Going by the UN report, Nigeria has the potential of dislodging the U.S. as the world’s third largest in another 35 years.

“Among the 10 largest countries in the world currently, one is in Africa (Nigeria), five are in Asia (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan), two are in Latin America (Brazil and Mexico), one is in Northern America (US), and one is in Europe (Russian Federation).

“Of these, Nigeria’s population, currently the seventh largest in the world, is growing the most rapidly,” said the report. Consequently, the population of Nigeria is projected to surpass that of the United States by about 2050, at which point it would become the third largest country in the world.

The report also projected that by 2050 the populations of six countries are expected to exceed 300 million: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the United States.

The in its latest report released yesterday has projected the world’s population to reach 8.5 billion by 2013, 9.7 billion by 2050 and exceed 11 billion in 2100, with India expected to dislodge China as the most populous around seven years from now and Nigeria overtaking the U.S. to become the world’s third largest country around 35 years from now.

Moreover, the report showed that during the 2015-2050 period, half of the world’s population growth is expected to be concentrated in nine countries: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the United States, Indonesia and Uganda.

Wu Hongbo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, whose department produced the 2015 Revision of World Population Prospects, the 24th round of official UN population estimates and projections, noted that understanding the demographic changes that are likely to unfold over the coming years “is key to the design and implementation of the new development agenda.”

UN member states are currently in the process of crafting a successor agenda to the landmark Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which wrap up at the end of this year. A new framework, focused on poverty eradication, social inclusion and preserving the health of the planet, is set to be adopted at a special UN summit, in New York in September.

According to the report’s projections, the current world population of 7.3 billion is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100.

“Most of the projected increase in the world’s population can be attributed to a short list of high-fertility countries, mainly in Africa, or countries with already large populations,” the report said.

At present, China and India are the two largest countries in the world, each with more than one billion people, representing 19 and 18 per cent of the world’s population, respectively. But, by 2022, the population of India is expected to surpass that of China.

And with the highest rate of population growth, Africa is expected to account for more than half of the world’s population growth over the next 35 years.

During this period, the report said, the populations of 28 African countries are projected to more than double, and by 2100, 10 African countries are projected to have increased by at least a factor of five: Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.