The Nigerian government has reaffirmed commitment to achieving the global targets geared towards ending AIDS by 2030.
The Director General of the National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, who also serves as the Chairman of the Council, Dr. Gambo Aliyu while addressing the council, said that looking back to two years ago since the 5th NCA which held in 2019, he realized how COVID-19 impacted on the economy and especially the community of people living with HIV/AIDS.
The theme of the sixth National Council on AIDS 2022 is, “Innovative Approaches towards HIV Epidemic Control and Programme Sustainability at State Level.”
The commitment was made at the sixth National Council on AIDS 2022 is ongoing in Abuja.
The meeting is a historical event which provides the largest forum for discussions on the way forward in the HIV and AIDS response.
The council considered the profound prayers geared towards important policy changes hinged on the new thinking of sustainability.
He said that, “The impact was due to inadequate emergency preparedness and response to COVID-19, long lockdown period that led to hunger and malnutrition, patients who were unable to access drugs, poor distribution of drugs to health facilities and health post, vulnerability of health workers to contract COVID-19 thereby impeding on service delivery.
“This slightly impacted on our 2030 target to achieve zero new infection, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-Related deaths.
“However,It is my hope that these policies, in relation to the different sub-themes, will ensure Nigeria moves towards achieving HIV Epidemic Control and Programme Sustainability in communities at the State Level in line with global targets,” Dr. Aliyu said.
He noted that even in the face of COVID-19, Nigeria recorded its largest growth in HIV treatment numbers in the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, initiating close to 300,000 people living with HIV on treatment in 2020, existing HIV/AIDS coordination platforms and community structures were strengthened to support the COVID-19 response.
He also said that some programme managers of the State Agency for the control of AIDS (SACA) were engaged as Epidemiology officers, distribution of ART drugs was still ongoing using drones in some states in order minimize death rate within the HIV/AIDS communities and the NACA toll line was deployed for continuous sensitization on proper hygiene, social distancing and answering frequent questions from the public.
Dr Aliyu noted that Nigeria is moving towards HIV epidemic control and programme sustainability which is in line with global agenda and building on innovative approaches to exceed the 95:95:95 targets.
“We can all agree that achieving HIV epidemic control in Nigeria requires innovative thinking, good planning, and domestic resourcing for sustainability,” he said.
On her part, the Nigerian minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Paullen Tallen, said that the HIV statistics staring Nigeria in the face was not encouraging.
She called for the strengthening of women groups, especially the Network of Women Living with HIV/AIDs to curb gender based violence in the society.
The National Council on AIDS is a statutory body set up to provide guidance to the national HIV/AIDS response based on the Acts that established NACA.
A crucial subset of the council’s scope entails integration of lessons learnt, and implementation of approved resolutions to further intensify approaches to national response.
