Nigeria recorded
300,000 new cases in 2012., even as the country was ranked as number eight
among 12 countries in the world that have recorded a decline in the new Human
Immuno-deficiency Virus, HIV, infection rate.
However, Benue
state still leads other states in the federation in HIV prevalence with a
prevalence rate of 10.7 percent, while Kebbi state, with 1.0% recorded the
least prevalence rate in the country.
Benue
State is closely
followed by Akwa Ibom with 10 percent, BayelsaState; 9.1 percent and Anambra,
8.1 percent.In Kaduna which recorded 5.1 percent from seven percent in 2008,
Governor Patrick Yakowa promised to ensure zero prevalence in the years to
come, as according to him, government would do everything within its power to
educate the people and provide drugs for HIV/AIDS patients..
Statistics
released by the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research at a programme to mark
this year’s World AIDS Day yesterday in Lagos showed that Nigeria and 11 other
countries recorded 20 percent reduction in new infection rate between 2001 and
2011.
Officials of the
Anambra State AIDS Control Agency, ANSACA, expressed worry over the 8.7%
HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the state which ranks it fourth in the country,
saying that serious measures were being adopted to reduce the scourge.
The Bayelsa State government
has reaffirmed its commitment to the wellbeing of people living with HIV/AIDS,
according to Governor Seriake Dickson who spoke at a charity football match
between the Creek Haven Young Stars and Creek Haven All Stars to mark the 2012
World HIV/AIDS Day at the Government House, Yenagoa. Dickson said government
has approved stipends for patients through the State Agency for the
Control of HIV/AIDS, by SACA.
Sharp decline in
the number of people being infected with HIV since 2001 have occurred in the
Caribbean (42 percent) and sub-Saharan Africa (25percent). But the prevalence
increased in the Middle East and North Africa, while nine percent was recorded
in East Asia.
However, there are
no decline in HIV related death rates both in Nigeria and Africa. According to
the statistics, in 2008, the annual death rate in Nigeria was 192,000 but has
risen to 217,148 deaths which may not be unconnected to lack of access to
treatment. Out of 1.5 million Nigerians confirmed to be HIV positive, only
500,000 have access to antiretroviral drugs, which is the key to managing the
disease according to the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA,
Director- General, Prof John Idoko.
Reeling out these
statistics in Review of the National Response to HIV& AIDS”, the Dr. Oliver
Ezechi, Clinical Sciences Division, NIMR, explained that the global theme for
this year is “Getting to Zero AIDS Related Deaths” while the national theme is
“Resourcing the National Response towards getting to the zero related AIDS
deaths”
Speaking in
another forum to mark the Day in Lagos, Director/Head, Clinical Services
Department, Institute of Human Virology Nigeria, Dr Ernest Ekong stressed
that there is need for all to be committed to achieving zero new infections,
zero discrimination against people living with HIV and zero AIDS related
deaths.
Ekong further
noted that: “Sub-Saharan Africa remains most severely affected, with nearly 1
in every 20s (4.9 percent) living with HIV and accounting for 69 percent of the
people living with HIV worldwide. Although the regional prevalence of HIV
infection is nearly 25 times higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in Asia, almost
5 million people are living with HIV in South-South-East and East Asia combined.
“After Sub
–Saharan Africa, the regions most heavily affected are the Caribbean and
Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where 1.0 percent of adults where living with
HIV in 2011.”
Ekong noted that
it is a critical issue that although approximately 1,555,780 People Living with
HIV (PLHIV) require anti-retroviral drugs, about one third of the group are
currently on treatment.”The gender dynamics in the profile of infections and
the growing burden of the 2.2 million HIV orphans in Nigeria has made it
necessary for the revised policy to critically address the rising HIV
prevalence among women, the expansion in number of orphans and vulnerable children.
Source: Vanguard
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