A group, Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), has called on the federal government to fast-track its commitment to procuring life-saving anti-retrovirals for Persons Living With HIV (PLWHIV) in the country.
The National Coordinator of NEPWHAN, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, in a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, said the availability of these drugs and HIV test kits is crucial to achieving the 90-90-90 goals which Nigeria failed to meet.
The UNAIDS – and other foreign partners had in 2014 launched the 90-90-90 strategy which is an ambitious target to help end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
The aim was to diagnose 90 per cent of all HIV positive persons, provide Antiretroviral Therapy (ARTs) for 90 per cent of those diagnosed, and achieve viral load suppression for 90 per cent of those treated by 2020.
At the dawn of the deadline, about 60 per cent of the people living with the virus in Nigeria were on treatment, data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows.
While the 60 per cent is already showing a deficit of about 30 percentage points going by the 2020 target, Nigeria is off-track in other focus areas such as “90 per cent of the population knowing their status at the end of the deadline”.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
The post Govt yet to redeem commitment to persons living with HIV –Group appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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