At least 12 persons tested positive for HIV and cervical cancer at an Inner Wheel Club medical screening held in Lagos on Friday.

Four of them tested positive for HIV, while the eight others tested positive for cervical cancer.

The chairman of the screening programme, Sunbo Osunbayo, said the medical outreach was organised to help the less-privileged establish their health conditions and seek remedy.

The free medical outreach featured screening for eye infections, breast cancer for women, prostate cancer for men, sugar level, Hepatitis B, HIV, malaria, family planning and provided free reading glasses.

Ms Osunbayo tasked participants to reduce stressful lifestyles, do away with eating things that could worsen their health conditions, and assist one another to check depression.

“Shouting, quarrelling, eating red meat, living in unhygienic environment and indulgence in consumption of excess alcohol trigger bad health conditions that can result in premature death,’’ she cautioned.

She added that alcoholic drinks and cigarettes could subject consumers to Hepatitis B, cancer, kidney and liver problems, and terminal illnesses.

Ms Osunbayo expressed regret about the prevalence of diseases in society and advised people to discard lifestyles that could subject them to illnesses.

In her address at the event, the screening team leader, Adebisi Adenuga-Ojoniyi, said early detection was fundamental to good treatment and remedy.

Ms Adenuga-Ojoniyi, whose professional counselling encouraged attendees to submit themselves for HIV screening, said it was better to be mocked at than to be cried over.

“If those who tested positive for some diseases have not come out for the screening, they may be killed by the diseases earlier than expected,” she explained. “As their statuses have been made known to them, treatment and management will begin to help them to live normal lives.’’

(NAN)