Keep the promise on HIV funding, Foundation tasks FG  

Keep the promise on HIV funding, Foundation tasks FG
NAN-H-20
HIV/AIDS
By Talatu Maiwada
Abuja, Jan. 25, 2018 (NAN) AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), an NGO, has called on Federal Government and stakeholders to keep the promise on HIV and AIDS to sustain national HIV intervention and safeguard the health of Nigerians.
Mr Steve Aborisade, Advocacy and Marketing Manager, AHF Nigeria, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
“It is heart-warming to see renewed commitments on the part of government to treat more Nigerians of HIV.
“The National Assembly resolved commitment to the implementation of the National Health Act.
“Provision of one per cent of the consolidated revenue fund for health from 2018 and state governors who are considering between 0.5 per cent and one per cent of their monthly federal allocations to sustain HIV funding.
“What we expect, which serves the Nigerian people right, is for these commitments to not end up as mere rhetoric.
“Keeping the promise made is the only way to guarantee and sustain the national HIV intervention and safeguard the health of Nigerians,’’ Aborisade said.
He said AIDS in Nigeria was a big challenge yet to be surmounted, adding that Nigeria’s HIV and AIDS situation is a peculiar one demanding a peculiar solution.
Aborisade said majority of Nigerians who are HIV positive in the country were unaware of their status adding that, Nigeria remains the second largest epidemic globally at 3.2 million.
“In 2016, according to UNAIDS, Nigeria recorded 220,000 new HIV infections, one of the highest rates in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Same year, she recorded 160,000 AIDS-related deaths. Among pregnant women living with HIV, only 32 per cent are on treatment, the fate of the remaining 68 per cent and their unborn babies is best imagined.
“No wonder, about 37, 000 children became newly infected with HIV in 2016 while only nine states out of 36 have surpassed 50 per cent Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) coverage.
“According, to Dr Sani Aliyu, Director General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) is of the view that Nigeria may require nothing less than N150 billion annually to achieve and maintain full ART coverage,’’ he said.
This reality, he said, underscores the need for state governments and organised private sector to join the federal government in its effort to rid Nigeria of AIDS.
Aborisade further called on nations who are funding AIDS to keep up their efforts, while urging the Government of China to support the Global Fund, which supports nations in tackling AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. (NAN)
TIM/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola