The Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) has urged the Federal Government to procure adequate antiretroviral drugs and test kits in order to achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goals.
NEPWHAN National Coordinator, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, in a statement on Sunday, said Nigeria had failed to attain the goals by the end of 2020.
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He said the goals could not be achieved without government’s commitment to procuring adequate test kits from domestic resources so that more Nigerians could be tested and positive placed on life-saving treatment.
He said the network was currently talking to the Federal Ministry of Health to fast track release of available resources to procure HIV drugs and test kits to keep Nigerians living with HIV alive.
“We hope that by the end of the second week of January, approval and release would have been granted by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire and his team to redeem Nigeria’s commitment and respect in the eyes of the international community, and to also demonstrate the importance of global solidarity and shared responsibility to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat.
“Failure to meet this commitment within the stipulated time will surely propel the people living with HIV in Nigeria to advise themselves for their voices to be heard by the world,” he said.
He urged the National Agency for the Control of AIDS to update the NEPWHAN and the HIV partners on the status of the procurement of antiretroviral drugs into the national HIV commodity pool.
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