Why Is Hiv Rates Increasing In Nigeria

 effect of HIV/aids in Nigeria

According to new survey findings, Nigeria has a 1.4 percent HIV prevalence.

Increased data collection and analysis improve understanding of Nigeria's HIV epidemic.

The ABUJA/GENEVA, March 14, 2019 –According to the results announced today by the Nigerian government, the national prevalence of HIV in Nigeria is 1.4 percent among persons aged 15–49 years. Earlier estimates put the national HIV prevalence at 2.8 percent. According to UNAIDS as well as the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, 1.9 million persons in Nigeria are infected with HIV.

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, speaking in Abuja, Nigeria, welcomed the news that the country has fewer people living with HIV than originally projected and initiated the Revised National HIV and AIDS Business strategy Framework 2019–2021, which also will guide the country's long - term reaction to the epidemic. In recent years, Nigeria has made significant success in expanding HIV treatment and prevention services.

"For the very first time, the end of AIDS as just a public health danger in our country is actually in sight," remarked Nigerian President H.E. Muhammadu Buhari. "I urge all of us not to back down, but to pick up the pace." Let us strive together to go the extra mile."

The Nigeria National HIV/AIDS Indicators and Impact Survey (NAIIS) results are based on a revamped and improved methodology. The poll clarifies Nigeria's HIV epidemic and sheds information on progress as well as lingering gaps and challenges.

The revised figures were welcomed by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, who stated that a greater knowledge of the country's HIV pandemic will allow Nigeria to better target people living with HIV and those at higher risk of contracting HIV.

"I applaud the Nigerian government as well as its partners for undertaking this ambitious survey, which gives us a far better picture of the country's HIV epidemic," Mr. Sidibé added. "While it is wonderful news that there really are fewer HIV-positive people in Nigeria than previously thought, we must not relax our watch." Get to use the findings of this study to better target our HIV prevention, treatment, and care services to those in greatest need, and guarantee that Nigeria is on pace to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030."

While the national HIV prevalence in Nigeria is 1.4 percent among persons aged 15–49 years, women seem more than significantly more likely than males to be infected (1.9 percent versus 0.9 percent .) The disparity in HIV prevalence between men and women is largest among younger adults, with young women aged 20–24 years and over three times as likely as young males in the same age group to be HIV positive. According to the new figures, the HIV proportion of children aged 0–14 years is 0.2 percent. In recent years, considerable efforts have been made to prevent new HIV infections in youngsters.

Just at the national level, viral deprivation among HIV patients aged 15–49 years is 42.3 percent (45.3 percent among women and 34.5 percent among men). When patients living with HIV are virally suppressed, they remain healthy and the virus is not transmitted.

 Improved awareness of the country's HIV epidemic will enable more efficient HIV response investments and more effective planning for HIV prevention, care, and therapeutic services, including one with a focus on critical populations such as female sex workers. It will enable the use of a population–location strategy to offer services to the people and regions who require them the most.

These new figures separate HIV prevalence by state, revealing that the virus is more prevalent in particular parts of the country. The country's South-South currently has the highest HIV prevalence, at 3.1 percent among persons aged 15–49 years. HIV prevalence is especially high in the North Central (2.0%) and southeast zones (1.9 percent ). Prevalence of HIV is lower in the southwest zone (1.1%), the North-East zone (1.1%), and also the northwest zone (1.1%). (0.6 percent ).

"These same findings of the Nigeria Countrywide HIV/AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAISS) provide Nigeria with just an accurate national HIV prevalence estimate of 1.4 percent." "NAIIS also demonstrated that we can effectively give antiretroviral medication," said Nigeria's Minister of Health, Isaac F. Adewole. "Everyone infected with HIV, pregnant or breastfeeding women, needs to obtain therapy in order to achieve viral suppression." We must ensure that pregnant women have access to antenatal care and are checked throughout their pregnancy. We know that by supporting HIV-positive mothers, we can ensure that the next generations are HIV-free."

With both the adoption of a diagnosis and treatment policy in 2016, Nigeria has made steady progress in boosting access to treatment for those living with HIV. This step has sped up the process of referring patients who show symptoms of the virus to treatment facilities. Between 2010 and 2017, the country nearly tripled the number of persons living with HIV who had access to antiretroviral medication, rising from 360 000 in 2010 to more than 1 million in 2018. Nevertheless, new estimates released today show that more than half of HIV patients still do not possess suppressed viral levels.

This new data is reliable since it is based on a broader surveillance system and a revamped and improved methodology. The country's response to HIV has expanded significantly in recent years. The number of treatment locations has almost tripled, the number of programs to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child has expanded eightfold, as well as the number of HIV counseling and testing sites has risen fourfold. In 2016, 11.3 million adults were counseled and tested for HIV, which was four times the number in 2012.

"It is critical that all HIV-positive patients receive therapy and achieve viral suppression." "We must act now to stem the pandemic," stated Sani Aliyu, Filmmaker of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS. "We have what it takes as a government, working with our partners, to support the people who are HIV-positive, to give treatment, to protect their families, and also to help them live longer and healthier."

The NAIIS was led by the Nigerian government through the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Agency again for Control of AIDS. Their work on the survey was overseen by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Preventive and implemented by the University of Maryland, Baltimore, with a scope that also included all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. The poll reached around 220,000 persons in approximately 100,000 households. Fieldwork was completed between October and November of 2018.

UNAIDS

UNAIDS leads and motivates the world to realize its common objective of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS coordinates the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO, and also the World Bank—to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and.

Health Ministry of the Russian Federation (FMOH)

Another of the Ministries inside the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the Federal Ministry of Health. It is involved with the development and implementation of health-related policies. The Ministry of Health has multiple departments that specialize in various elements of health care. NAIIS was conducted and implemented by the Department of Public Health's National HIV but instead STI Control Program (NASCP).

National AIDS Control Organization (NACA)

This same National Agency again for Control of AIDS was founded to manage the country's HIV/AIDS operations. Among its many functions, the Agency coordinates and sustains advocacy for HIV/AIDS/STDs Expanded Response in Nigeria across all sectors and levels. The Agency, in partnership with the FMoH, guided the NAIIS implementation.