The Federal Ministry of Health’s National Aids and STD Control Programme (NASCP) has expressed concern about the need for Nigeria to step up efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission and paediatric HIV.
At a consultation conference with Commissioners organised by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Nigeria, the National Coordinator of the program stated that Nigeria has been number one on the list of bad performance for far too long.
She claimed that efforts to shift this rhetoric are contingent on the level of engagement at the state level.
Many countries around the world have been able to eliminate vertical transmission of HIV but Sub Saharan Africa still accounts for 90 percent of the global burden of vertical HIV transmission.
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A meeting between the US centres for Disease control and Prevention and the Commissioners of Health in the 18 CDC supported States and the FCT held with the aim to strengthen State leadership in managing HIV response in order to sustain progress already recorded.
Overall, the project has been able to record about 95 percent viral load suppression in 19 States, including the FCT
1.9 million people in the country have access to life saving treatments, which would enable them live a productive live.
The National Coordinator of the National AIDS and STDs Control Programme said there is still a major gap in the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission and Paediatric HIV, which she describes as a 1 faced coin.
As NASCP vowed to shortly roll out a program with Nigeria as the center, States Commissioners promise to work diligently to maintain sustained epidemic control in their States.
