By Haruna Gimba
The United Nations Joint Action on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has applauded Nigeria’s progress against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima stated this when she visited President Muhammadu Buhari, to discuss the country’s response to the colliding pandemics of HIV and COVID-19.
She said declared that the UNAIDS stood ready to strengthen its partnership with Nigeria to further reduce the impact of the HIV pandemic and end AIDS as a public health threat as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“Nigeria has made good progress on expanding the delivery of HIV testing, treatment and care services over recent years, contributing to a steep decline in AIDS-related deaths.
“I look forward to reinforcing UNAIDS’ partnership with government, communities and all other stakeholders to drive new HIV infections down and kick-start a decade of action to end AIDS as a public health threat for everyone,” she said
There were 1.8 million people living with HIV in Nigeria in 2019 and 1.3 million people know their HIV status. Around 1.1 million people are now on HIV treatment to keep them alive and well.
It was gathered that AIDS-related deaths have fallen by more than a third over the past decade, although HIV infections have declined at a more modest rate.
The meeting was part of Ms Byanyima’s three-day visit to the country, which also included visits to communities on the frontline of the response and events to mark International Women’s Day on March 8.
During their meeting, Ms Byanyima thanked President Buhari for being an early champion of the People’s Vaccine campaign, which is calling for a fair and equitable distribution of vaccines against the coronavirus to ensure that poorer countries are not left behind in the response.
Nigeria began to vaccinate frontline health workers last weekend after taking delivery of 4 million doses of vaccine, facilitated through COVAX, the international mechanism set up to bulk buy vaccines and distribute them equitably worldwide.
But out of the 300 million vaccine doses administered worldwide so far, most have been administered in just 10 countries.
During her visit, Ms Byanyima also met community activists, who have been instrumental in minimizing the disruption to HIV testing, treatment and care services despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to contain it.
