NEPWHAN tasks FG on support for people living with HIV/AIDS

The Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN ) has called on the federal government to increase support for people living with  the disease in order to place more people on treatment.

The new national coordinator of the organisation, Abdulkadir Ibrahim made the call yesterday in Abuja during the handover ceremony to the new management board of the organisation

Abdulkadir  said the support should go beyond the national level to the 36 states , adding that doing so would address the gap between the number of people living with the disease and those who have access to treatment in the country.

“There are about 3.2million people living with the disease in Nigeria but only about one million are on treatment . Most of our people are defaulting as they are switching them to another drug. But the challenge is that majority of our people find it difficult to access even life-saving antiretroviral therapy. In the past if you default, there were platforms to track you back for treatment but that support is no more available. We are still calling on government to bridge the gap so that everyone living with the disease is placed on treatment,” he said.

While commending the federal government and the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA)  for fulfilling the  pledge of putting additional 50, 000 persons on treatment every year, he said there was need for increased funding and ownership of the HIV response in Nigeria  especially in the face of dwindling donor response.

The NEPWHAN national coordinator said the first priority agenda of the new management board is to develop a 4-year strategic plan that would guide its operation.