26th November, 2019
Nigeria is determined to end the HIV epidemic by 2030, in line with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS vision, the country’s Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said.
The Minister restated Nigeria’s commitment to achieving viral suppression through what he called “detection, treatment, and suppression” at the launch of a campaign to fight HIV/AIDS by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) in Abuja.
Ehanire highlighted Nigeria’s achievements in HIV treatment interventions, started in 1986 when the epidemic was first reported in the country.
Gambo Aliyu, head of NACA, expressed his satisfaction with Nigeria’s achievements in tackling HIV/AIDS as official indicator showed the country’s HIV prevalence fell from 4.4 percent in 2005 to 1.4 percent in 2018.
He ascribed the success to efforts by communities in partnership with the government and foreign assistance in the last 15 years.