Country Director, UNAIDS, Dr Bilali Camara said Nigeria is able to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
Dr Camara said this yesterday at a press briefing to commence the World AIDS Day celebration in Abuja.
Camara said “at the end of 2015, I can say with clarity that Nigeria is among the countries which have halted the spread and reversed the trend of HIV epidemic. There is no doubt that with the fast tracking approach being promoted, Nigeria will end AIDS by 2030.”
The Director-General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Prof John Idoko said ending AIDS does not mean total elimination of HIV/AIDs, but so much damage would have been done to
the virus that it is no longer an epidemic.
“There will still be HIV/AIDS only that it will not be a public health issue. It’s attainable if you and I start working,” Idoko said.
However, the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) represented by its Secretary, Mr Abdulkadir Ibrahim said Nigeria carries the second highest burden of HIV in Africa and has the second largest population of people living with HIV in the world after South Africa, hence a lot
needed to be done to end HIV/AIDS in 2030.
The theme of 2015 World AIDS Day in Nigeria is “Getting to zero: Ending AIDS by 2030.”