With just eight more years to 2030 goal of ending AIDS as a global health threat, Nigeria is still faced with a lot of barriers, resulting in inequalities.
While the country has succeeded in establishing the HIV/AIDS status of 90 percent of those it believes to be positive, the remaining 10 percent are still living in obscurity and are unaware of the status.
According to the minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, the country has made notable achievements, as 90 percent of people who are HIV positive know their status, with 98 percent of them currently on HIV treatment.
The 95 percent of the people receiving treatment, the minister said, have attained a status of viral suppression.
But despite efforts to end the epidemic, cultural and social challenges have raised concerns about bridging these barriers and ensuring equality in HIV testing, treatment and care among the key population that is yet to be identified and those not getting treatment.
The national coordinator, Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Abdulkadir Ibrahim, said stigma is a barrier preventing people from going to the facilities to access HIV services.
Expressing worry over the effects of stigma on persons living with HIV, Ibrahim told LEADERSHIP Sunday that due to fear of stigma most HIV patients are not finding it easy to go to the hospital.
He said, “Once you are positive and because of fear of stigma you are not finding it easy to go to the hospital, then you will run into trouble because that person may likely develop drug resistance and medication will no longer be effective on that person.
“With situations like this, we will continue to have HIV as a problem and they will continue to spread the virus in the community while hindering the plan to end it by 2030.”
He noted that there are gaps around inequity, even as he called for everybody’s commitment to ensure that all populations that require services have access.
He however said the country is winning the war against HIV and is doing very well in terms of putting people on treatment but lagging behind in maintaining people on treatment and bringing in new people on treatment.
Also, available statistics have shown that the country is making progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS, as 90 per cent of people who are HIV positive now know their status, with 98 per cent of them on HIV treatment and 95 per cent on treatment have attained viral suppression.
The director-general of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr Aliyu Gambo, said Nigeria’s success story is evident from the significant dip in the HIV prevalence of 3.4 per cent in 2017 to a population based prevalence of 1.3 per cent in 2018.
He added that as at the end of September 2022, the country had 1,619,133 persons on treatment, which represents 98 per cent of the population that had tested positive to the virus.
He also said that new HIV infections gradually declined from 103,404 in 2019 to 92,323 in 2021.
“Our treatment sites have increased from 251 in 2007 to 2,262 in 2020. New HIV infections gradually declined from 103,404 in 2019 to 92,323 in 2021.Significant growth in key population treatment centres, 10 in 2017 with a coverage of 16,147 to 118 in 2021 with coverage of over 221,010,” he added.
The DG further stated that as the country sustains the epidemic control achieved thus far, more focus will be directed at ensuring increased availability, quality and suitability of services, for HIV treatment, testing and prevention, so that everyone is well-served.
He also said that access to prevention, treatment, care and support services will be intensified for hard to reach populations, especially those communities circumscribed by conflict.
Meanwhile, as the world marked this year’s World AIDS Day, with the theme, “Equalise”, the UNAIDS has launched a new report, tagged, “Dangerous Inequalities”.
The report noted that despite remarkable progress in increasing access to comprehensive prevention, treatment, and care, including in Nigeria, “we are currently not on track to end AIDS by 2030, and the reason is inequality.”
Country director of UNAIDS and representative for Nigeria on World AIDS Day 2022, Dr Leo Zekeng, however said, “We can end AIDS, and to end AIDS we must end the economic, social and structural barriers that are blocking progress.”
He noted that to end AIDS means more availability, quality and suitability of services for HIV testing, treatment, and prevention, especially for those left behind, adolescent girls and young women, key populations, migrant populations, people with disabilities, refugees and internally displaced populations and children living with HIV.
While over three quarter of adults living with HIV are on antiretroviral therapy, just over half of children living with HIV are on lifesaving medicine In 2021.
Children accounted for only 4 per cent of all people living with HIV but 15 percent of all AIDS-related deaths, said Zekeng.
He further stated that equalisation means more financial resources including from domestic sources.
His words: “We commend financial contributions from PEPFAR, Global Fund and UN agencies as well as government’s commitment to incrementally pay for the treatment of Nigerians living with HIV using domestic resources.
“We want Nigeria to build on the momentum and ensure sustainable financing of HIV through initiatives such as the HIV Trust Fund. For that to happen, we need governments both at federal and state levels to start recognising public health as an investment that can yield good returns, rather than a cost. State Governments should live up to their commitments and release 0.5 to 1.0% of their Federal Monthly Allocations to support the HIV response in their States and abolish users’ fees access to services.
“Equalize means better laws, policies, and practices to tackle the stigma and exclusion faced by people living with HIV, marginalised populations such as gay men and men having sex with men, female sex workers, transgender, prisoners, and those in close settings. Everyone needs respect and to be welcomed.”
