FG scores Nigeria high in HIV/AIDS response

Launches Documents To Scale Up HIV Response

The Federal Government has said that Nigeria has mede tremendous progress in the HIV/AIDS response and is on the way to ending HIV as a public health emergency by 2030.

Meanwhile, the federal government has unveiled some National HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) policy documents designed towards strengthening the existing framework for action, in order to reduce the spread of the diseases and manage their impacts.

Minister of State for Health, Dr Tunji Alausa, who stated this at a media briefing to mark the 2023 World AIDS Day yesterday in Abuja, observed that Nigeria with the current HIV treatment coverage above 90% is well on course to meet this goal adding that the country currently has 1.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) on treatment out of the 1.9 Million People Living with HIV AIDS .

Alausa however noted that the country cannot achieve lasting progress in our battle against HIV/AIDS without the active involvement of our communities.

He stated that Communities contribute to the HIV/AIDS response in numerous ways, adding that their leadership and advocacy ensured that the response remained relevant and grounded, keeping people at the centre and leaving no one behind.

He noted that this year’s theme, ‘Let Communities Lead’. emphasized the pivotal impact communities have had in shaping the HIV response and this was evident in the laudable progress made in the last two decades towards ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Also speaking, National Coordinator, National AIDS and STDs Control Program (NASCP) Dr Adebobola Bashorun, observed there has been steady declines in annual HIV infections and AIDS related deaths.

He however said that out of the 1.9 million PLHIV, 270,000 had not been identified and that as at 2022, 159,923 estimated children aged zero to 14 years were living with HIV in Nigeria; making it one of the countries with the highest pediatric HIV burden globally.

“Also, 20,364 HIV exposed infants (HEIs) had EID samples collected within two months of delivery, which translates to only 21 per cent EID coverage and a MTCT rate of 14 per cent at six weeks and 23 per cent through breastfeeding.

“There are 96,517 estimated HIV positive pregnant women who needed PMTCT but only 34 per cent were enrolled on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) in 2022.

“However, 50,676 children living with HIV (CLHIV) were on treatment in 2022 which represents 32 per cent of the estimated CLHIVs.” Bashorun noted that in spite of the current efforts towards pediatric case finding and linkage to HIV treatment, many children remain undiagnosed and thus without access to life saving ART.

He added that it was critical to identify these children and initiate ART as early as possible. On his part, the Chairman, House Committee on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Control (ATM), Hon. Amobi Ogah, said that it was very important for Nigeria to recommit to reducing foreign support to at least 50 per cent.

The documents unveiled by the Minister are, National Guidelines for Viral Hepatitis Treatment and Care – 2023, Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials for Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) demand creation and scale-up-2023.

Others were Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for PMTCT scale up, jingles in 10 languages for PMTCT scale-up – 2023 and IEC materials for HIV self-testing scale up.