Persons with HIV alert to growing resistance to drugs

The Network of Living People with HIV/AIDS (NEPWHAN) on Monday warned that if the Federal government fails to take full responsibility for treatment, care and support for Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the country, patients living with the virus could develop resistance to the first line Anti Retroviral drugs (ARVs) and consequently pose a grave danger to public health and to the country.

The group decried the reduction in the allocation for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the 2017 budget.

President of NEPWHAN, who stated this at a ceremony for late HIV/AIDS victims in Abuja said that an estimated 3.2 million persons are living with HIV in Nigeria with less a million of them on treatment.

He observed that dwindling donor support to Nigeria has made it imperative for government to match its words with actions and take ownership and sustainability of HIV response.

He lamented that the federal government contributes only about seven percent in a country that has about 3.1 adult HIV prevalence while about 93 percent of the HIV fund comes from external sources.