According to the National Blood Transfusion Center, NBIS Rivers State, southern region has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Nigeria .
This revelation was made by the Donor Care Manager National Blood Transfusion Center, Rivers State, Imaobong Umah, who revealed that the latest statistics showed that Rivers State has toppled Benue as the state with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate.
Umah disclosed that at present Nigeria has about three million HIV/AIDS patients in the country with Rivers State having the highest number of people suffering from the virus.
She also lamented that the agency was experiencing shortage of blood in its blood bank due to unwillingness of people to donate blood.
A pointer to this indices suggests that Rivers State is the headquarters of hydrocarbon (crude oil) industry in Nigeria that attracts people of different nationalities into the state, also with the attendant increase in the number of sex workers who engage in unprotected sex thereby increasing the spread.
-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
