Nigeria Needs More Effort to Attain HIV Reduction Target, Says UNAIDS

•NACA: We’ve made notable progress

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has expressed concern over what it described as not too impressive progress being made by Nigeria towards attaining the 2025 target for reduction of new HIV infection.

UNAIDS’s concern came just as the Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr. Temitope Ilori, said Nigeria has made notable progress in shaping “our response and strategies to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country.”

Speaking at the 2024 Nigeria HIV Prevention Conference for Youths organised by NACA, in Abuja, UNAIDS Country Representative, Leo Zekeng, said whereas 11 countries in Africa have already achieved 66 per cent reduction rate, Nigeria’s progress rate was just nine per cent.

The conference with the theme: “Accelerating HIV Prevention to End AIDS- innovations and Community Engagement,” was sponsored by UNAIDS and US President ‘s Emergency plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

UNAIDS Country Director Dr. Leo Zekeng: said the progress made so far in achieving targets set for eradication of HIV in country is not very impressive yet.

“We can’t be satisfied because in 2021, the world made a commitment to reduce new HIV infection by 83 percent and reducing the infections by 83 percent meant that by 2025, we would have had 370,000 new infections but the data for 2022 suggests that we have 1.3 million new infections.

“So we can’t be satisfied with that kind of performance that did not reduce significantly the number of new infections.

“For a country like Nigeria, it means that the target was 22,000 but when you look at the data for 2022, we had 74,000 new infections”.

Zekeng, however said about 11 countries mostly from the east and southern Africa has attained a 66 percent reduction in HIV infection based on pre-2025 target assessment.

According to him, out of the 11 countries, nine are from the east and southern Africa while the other two – Cameroon and Ivory Coast – are the country’s neighbors.

Zekeng, said the progress attained by the 11 countries serves as a testimony that reducing HIV infections is achievable with determination. He said the target set by Nigeria was achievable but that what was needed was the strengthening of efforts and doing all the things that needed to done.

He identified several challenges inhibiting progress, including the lack of political leadership commitment to efforts at prevention by state governments and funding limitations.

While welcoming participants to the conference, Director General, NACA, Dr. Temitope Ilori, said stigma and discrimination remained significant barriers to achieving the country’s goal of stopping the spread of HIV by 2030.

She explained that between the last conference and now, the agency has implemented various strategies such as combination prevention therapy, HIV self-testing, harm reduction initiatives, treatment as prevention, and the re-evaluation of Nigeria’s HIV epidemic through the NAIIS in 2018, among others

“We must educate and sensitise people about the harmful effects of stigma and discrimination against individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

“Our strategies must be inclusive, person-centred, and sensitive to the needs of adolescents, young people, key populations, and people living with HIV/AIDS,” she added.

In addition, the DG said the agency would focus on community-based interventions while promoting local ownership and sustainability of our response effort.

Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare Dr. Tunji Alausa, who was represented by Dr. David Atuwo, tasked NACA to ensure that a documentation of the recommendations reached at conference is made so that the ministry can leverage on it.

On his part, Chairman of the House Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (ATM), emphasised the need for Nigeria to reduce reliance on foreign donors to combat the HIV epidemic.

Country Coordinator of PEPFAR , Funmi Adesanya, highlighted the crucial role of youth participation, advocacy, and leadership in achieving the goal of eliminating HIV as a public health threat by 2030 and breaking the cycle of mother-to-child transmission.