Despite the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria’s AIDS management agency, NACA, said about 350,000 Persons Living with HIV (PLWHIV) were identified within the last 18 months.
The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Gambo Aliyu, made this known on Tuesday during a national dialogue on the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV(PMTCT).
The dialogue was organised by the National AIDS/STIs Control Programme of the federal ministry of health.
“Last 18 months, 350,000 people were identified and brought to treatment despite COVID-19. This number is a break from the previous 50,000 to 60,000 a year,” he said.
He said the agency accessed some rural communities to be able to identify the cases.
“From a few numbers of one-stop shops have amounted to over 60 one-stop shops all over the country and all these accounted for the 350,000 we were able to identify, instead of the traditional 50,000 to 60,000,” he said.
About 1.9 million people under the age of 64 are living with HIV in Nigeria, result from the Nigeria HIV/AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS) conducted in 2018 shows.
Mr Aliyu said there is a need to tweak the existing strategy for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in the country.
He noted that the number of women on HIV treatment has greatly improved between 2006 and 2019.
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