A Twitter doctor with the username@firstdoctor on Twitter claimed that out of 197 HIV tests conducted in Abuja on the third week of July 2023, 119 came out positive with the male having a 60% rate.
The post reads, “So last week, the Red Cross reportedly ran HIV tests for 197 people in Abuja, Nigeria. 199 of them were positive and 60% of the positive tests were male. If you can’t control yourself, use condoms. Just stop playing games with your life”
The post went viral with 2,699 retweets, 674 quotes, 6,030 likes, and 1.7m views.
National Action Committee On Aids in Nigeria (NACA) an organisation that coordinates the response to HIV/AIDS in Nigeria responded to the tweet by tagging Red Cross Nigeria to confirm the information. The tweet reads; “@nrcs_ng This information is passing round. Can you confirm when and where this outreach occurred with a 60% prevalent rate?”
Red Cross Nigeria responded to the post claiming nothing of such happened.
“Thanks for bringing this to our notice. We have contacted our Abuja FCT branch and confirmed that such activity was never conducted. It’s unethical for any organisation to disclose the status of their clients/patients. The Nigeria Red Cross Society remains committed to providing quality and free humanitarian services to affected populations wherever they may be found based on our humanitarian mandate and 7 principles. But, in this case, this story is false. Thank you all”
ropriate actions.
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NACA Nigeria through its Twitter page @NACANigeria has declared the information false after further investigation. In their words; “Statement on high prevalence rates in Abuja: After investigation and reaching out to the Nigerian Red Cross Society, CSOs, CBOs and other implementing Partners IPs operating in Abuja, we confirm the statement is entirely FALSE. There was no outreach conducted in Abuja and the claim that 199 people tested positive out of 197 is false. The accurate data show that Abuja’s HIV prevalence rate remains at 1.3% while Nigeria has a prevalence rate of 3%.
According to them, no outreach anywhere in Nigeria or anywhere in the world will yield such a 60% prevalence. The false statement has been forwarded to relevant authorities that deal with misinformation for app
The said doctor has come out to apologize for misinforming the public and has deleted the post. According to him, he got the post from another Twitter user and reposted without verifying it. Meanwhile, the said Twitter user claims he got it from a WhatsApp group.
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