The Federal Government of Nigeria has said it got $3.3 billion in international funding in the last six years from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and Global Fund, at $2.73 billion and $591 million respectively.
The government clarified that between 2015 and 2021, over one million people with HIV were placed on treatment – from 672,303 in 2015 to 1,798,591 in 2021 – while the HIV prevalence rate now stands at 1.3 per cent.
It regretted that with less than 50 per cent national coverage of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and about 22,000 cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV every year in the country, achieving zero transmission from mother-to-child remains a key challenge.
The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr Gambo Aliyu, announced this in Abuja at a media briefing to commemorate the agency’s 15th anniversary.
He said: “The national response to HIV is in the last leg of achieving epidemic control after 17 years of active programming for prevention, case identification and treatment. February 22, 2021, marked the maiden edition of the NACA Day celebration.
“The day provides an opportunity to reflect on the successes of the national response, celebrate all communities, partners, and stakeholders for the milestones achieved and renew our commitments to end AIDS by 2030.
“The last six years have witnessed tremendous growth in innovations, data-driven decisions for policy and programmes, in addition to strong political commitment. This has led to unprecedented growth in case identification, linkage to care and treatment of persons living with HIV/AIDS. Nigeria is on the verge of achieving UNAIDS programmatic targets for epidemic control (the conditional 95s).”
“National programme alignment of services in HIV response by all stakeholders and service integration in communities made our national response the most COVID-19-resilient in the world with the highest yield at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Nigeria AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS) brought a paradigm shift in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the country.”
