Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS infection rate has declined drastically —NACA

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), says data available to it shows that there has been a drastic decline in the infection rate of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.

The Director-General of the agency, Gambo Aliyu, who disclosed this on Thursday while speaking at a press conference in Abuja ahead of the 2022 World AIDS Day (WAD), said new HIV infections gradually declined from 103,404 in 2019 to 92,323 in 2021, giving the indication that Nigeria will meet the United Nations’ target of ending HIV/AIDS by 2030.

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According to Aliyu, the WAD is commemorated on December 1 annually to raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and mourn those who have died of the disease, while this year’s theme is “Equalise to end AIDS: Equal Access to Treatment and Prevention Services”.

“As of the end of September, 1,619,133 persons are on treatment in the country, which represents a significant leap when compared to 838,020 persons that were on HIV treatment in 2017.

“There is also significant growth in key population treatment centres with 10 in 2017 with a coverage of 16,147 to 118 in 2021 with coverage of over 221,010.

“Our treatment sites also increased from 251 in 2007 to 2,262, in 2020,” he said.

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