• Advocate country ownership of HIV response
NETWORK of People Living With HIV/AIDS (NEPWHAN) has called for integration of HIV services into the health system and programmes to boost access to services and also reduce stigma and discrimination associated with the disease.
The National President of NEPWHAN, Mr Abdulkadiri Ibrahim, who made the call at a meeting organised by the AHF Nigeria with the theme “Defeating HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, Role of the media”, stated that instead of having fragmented units of agencies or departments managing the HIV response, the government should find a common ground.
He observed that with the US government’s new policy shift, a lot of funding for health interventions being supported by the US government had reduced drastically, adding that though HIV interventions were given a waiver, some areas of the HIV response had been significantly affected, such as the prevention aspects, especially the drivers of the epidemic, which are the youth, and also the key population community.
Ibrahim explained that the only prevention interventions that remained the priority for the US government were the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
He noted that HIV interventions had drastically reduced globally and emphasised the need for Nigeria to look inwards and ensure that all the achievements that had been recorded and gains that had been achieved were sustained by addressing the barriers created by the disruption in funding.
In his remarks, the Representative for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in Nigeria, Dr Echey Ijezie, observed that the media, over the years, had played a significant role in creating awareness about HIV and had been a strong voice since the response started.
In his comment, AHF Public Relations Manager Steve Aborishade noted that stigma and discrimination had continued to prevent many individuals from accessing essential care, while key populations face significant barriers to treatment and called for support of the media to beat HIV in the country.
