HIV under effective control in Nigeria – NACA

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) says the fight against HIV has been very vigourous in recent years and that Nigeria is moving towards epidemic control.

NACA Director-General, Dr Gambo Aliyu, stated this in Abuja Sunday during the policy dialogue on the new Global AIDS Strategy (GAS) and Political Declaration (PD).

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“Probably in the 12 months, we have seen a window where we can declare to the global community that HIV spread in Nigeria is under effective control,” he said.

He said more persons were being placed on treatment as morbidity and mortality rates were on the decline. 

He said there was also an increased ownership of the response as the federal government was currently supporting 100, 000 clients with anti-retroviral. 

He said NACA and other stakeholders in HIV were working assiduously towards ending inequality in accessing HIV services in the country.

Aliyu said there were some marginalized groups still facing inequality in the country, noting ending the inequality in accessing HIV preventive and treatment services is key to achieving epidemic control in the country.

Aliyu said the policy dialogues had helped the national response to HIV/AIDS evolve over the years, providing powerful mechanism for taking evidence-based policy decisions feeding into the strategic frameworks and planning processes for sustainability.