Nigeria has recorded significant success in HIV/AIDS fight – FG

Nigeria has recorded significant success in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the Federal Government has said.
There is a 25 per cent decline in the spread of the disease in the country between 2001 and 2009.
However, the country still records about 281,000 new infections yearly.

The Director-General of the National Action Committee on AIDS, Prof. John Idoko, gave these statistics among others at the zonal consultations on ownership for sustainable HIV response yesterday in Abuja.
Idoko said owing to the irregular funding of NACA by donor agencies due to global meltdown, only 400,000 persons living with the disease are receiving drugs out of the three million people currently affected while about 1.5 million people are required to be on life saving anti-retroviral drugs.
Idoko said: “We have seen very significant progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Nigeria – more than 25 per cent HIV decline between 2001 and 2009. However, we still have very significant gaps.
“Nigeria has the largest burden of transmission of mother child of HIV in the world – 30 per cent with about 70,000 children born every year with HIV. These children hardly live to see their third birthday without treatment.
“If we are to transform the landscape of AIDS, it must remain high on the national and global agenda.
“We must move to a response that is long-term and sustainable-one that makes full use of the knowledge and resources developed over the past three decades, yet continues and respond to a changing world that is constantly influencing the future of AIDS.
“Funding remains largely externally driven and this is unsustainable. Over 80 per cent of our funding for the AIDS response is from donors.”