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HIV Prevalence Drops To Nearly Half In Nigeria — NAIIS

Published

6 years ago

March 14, 2019

The prevalence in Nigeria of Human Immunodeficiency Virus [HIV], the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome [AIDS], has dropped significantly to nearly half in 2019, according to the results of Nigeria Aids Indicator/Impact Survey [NAIIS].

This disclosure was made by the Minister of Health, Dr. Isaac F. Adewole during the NAIIS Presidential Announcement on Thursday.

According to statistics reeled out by Dr. Adewole at the event, about 1.9 million people in Nigeria are living with HIV, which consists about 1.4%.

The result is a far departure from the previous result that shows 3.4% with 3.2 million Nigerians living with the virus.

Out of the 1.9 million people living with HIV, prevalence is 1.9% in females and 0.9% in males, according to the NAIIS result.

Before the NAIIS, prevalence of HIV in Nigeria was 3.4% and 3.2 million Nigerians were living with HIV.

Speaking on the development, President Muhammadu Buhari said that “these more accurate figures indicate that fewer Nigerians are affected by HIV”.

“However,” he continued, “we cannot celebrate yet, as almost a million Nigerians living with HIV are currently not on treatment.

“Now that we have data that will help us target for impact, I urge all of us not to relent in this fight, but to increase the momentum in a concerted effort to end the epidemic ahead of 2030.

President highlighted his commitment at the UN General Assembly in 2017 to progressively add 50,000 Nigerians on treatment every year using government resources.

“I also welcome the move by the Nigerian private sector to establish a National HIV Trust Fund in the coming months to support our goal of ensuring that all Nigerians have access to high quality HIV treatment and prevention services,” he noted.

ElombahNews had earlier published the speech by Buhari at the occasion.