US Supports Nigeria on HIV Eradication by 2030

Michael Olugbode

United States has expressed commitment to Nigeria’s push towards meeting the United Nations goal of global HIV eradication by 2030.

A statement by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Tuesday read, “As Nigeria accelerates toward meeting the United Nations goal of global HIV eradication by 2030, USAID programmes will continue to maintain critical momentum to propel HIV prevention, care, support, and treatment where it is needed most in Nigeria.”

The statement disclosed that on September 7, the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Kathleen FitzGibbon joined Nigerian Federal Director of Public Health, Dr. M.O. Alex-Okoh, representing Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanaire, to mark the closing of a U.S. government activity that made a significant contribution to the HIV response in Nigeria over the last decade.

The statement revealed that the Strengthening Integrated Delivery of HIV/AIDS Services (SIDHAS) activity was supported by the Presidents’ Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through USAID. It added that since 2011, SIDHAS, implemented by FHI 360, had been a leader in a continuum of U.S. government support for HIV control, and through PEPFAR, the U.S. government had delivered lifesaving treatment to over 1.5 million individuals. The figure represents more than 83 per cent of the total estimated 1.8 million Nigerian people living with HIV.

The U.S. had also supported comprehensive services to over one million vulnerable children and their family members impacted by HIV, the statement said.

It said PEPFAR was implemented in Nigeria by the U.S. State Department, USAID, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control, and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, leveraging the power of a whole-of-government approach to controlling the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.

FitzGibbon was quoted in the statement as saying, “It’s been a great source of pride for me to witness the success of the U.S. government’s partnership with Nigeria to get HIV epidemic control within our reach.” He added, “The U.S. PEPFAR team has worked closely with government stakeholders to urgently reorient the national response to address areas with the highest HIV burden.”

SIDHAS made significant contributions to the national HIV response through improving integration of HIV/AIDS and TB services into the Nigerian health system and helping deliver high quality prevention and treatment to HIV-positive people and their families.

SIDHAS began operating in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in 2011, and over the years has evolved to focus on “hot spots” of HIV incidence as identified by the activity’s interventions and results.

Along the way, SIDHAS has strengthened institutional, technical, and financial capacities of local health systems in planning, training of health workers, and support for community-based organisations active in the health sectors.

This support has helped to streamline and standardise Nigeria’s HIV prevention and care response and improved the geographic reach of high-quality treatment services, most recently through “surge” interventions in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states since 2019.

Through partnership with the U.S. government and the multilateral Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, Nigeria has achieved a reduction in HIV prevalence from 4.1 per cent in 2010 to 1.4 per cent in 2018. New annual infections have dropped 26 per cent from 230,000 in 2010 to 170,000 in 2018.