The director general, National Agency for the Control of AIDS(NACA), Prof John Idoko, said that Nigeria is winning the war against HIV/AIDS, he said this in a detailed interview with WINIFRED OGBEBO of Leadership News.
See excerpt:
About the present HIV/AIDS prevalence in Nigeria?
There has been a steady decline in the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria in the past five years. Investigations conducted independently by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Health Systems Strengthening, Integrated Biological and Behavioral Sentinel Survey and Federal Ministry of Health have revealed a 54 per cent reduction in the estimated incidence of HIV in Nigeria between 2003 and 2013 – from 46 % in 2003 to 21 % in 2013.
New HIV infections have been decreasing since 2003 when it stood at 348,564. In 2013 the rate of new infections dropped to 220,394. Also, HIV prevalence among pregnant women aged between 15 – 25 years dropped by 33.3% – from 6% in 2001 to 4.10% in 2010.
This year started with the great news of the signing of the Anti-Stigma Law by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) joined the People Living with HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS and other stakeholders welcomed the signing of this law as a clear sign of Nigeria’s commitment at stopping stigmatisation and discrimination targeted at people living with HIV and AIDS.
According to survey, Nigeria has the second largest paediatric HIV/AIDS burden in the world. How are you tackling this issue?
The number of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Sites in Nigeria increased from 230 in 2006 to 1410 in 2012 and 5622 in 2013. The number of pregnant women who were counseled, tested and received results increased from 300,100 in 2006 to 1,181,296 in 2012, rising sharply to 1,706,524 in 2013, while the number of HIV positive pregnant women on ART increased from 12,993 in 2006 to 57,871 in 2013.
In 2013, the President launched the President’s Comprehensive Response Plan for HIV/AIDS (PCRP) to accelerate the achievement of targets of key interventions against HIV. Also, the federal government through the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) and other programmes initiated health system strengthening projects that are critical to achieving the universal access to antiretroviral drugs and the elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV in various communities.
The new National Operational Plan for the Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV in Nigeria 2015-2016 will further help the country to take a more focused approach towards the elimination of mother to child transmission and keeping mothers alive by 2020.
The decline in the estimated incidence of HIV in Nigeria is a welcome development. Ultimately, Nigeria will be able to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, given the commitment of the Government to improving the health of Nigerians and getting to zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS related deaths and zero discrimination.
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