50 Percent Nigerians Unsure of HIV Status - AHF

The AIDS Health Care Foundation (AHF), an NGO, on Thursday said that about 50 per cent of Nigerians were yet to know their HIV status.
Mrs Oluwakemi Gbadamosi, the Advocacy Manager of the foundation, said this in Abuja in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Gbadamosi said the figure was worrisome because of Nigeria's population of about 170 million people and its status as a country with the second highest burden of HIV in Africa after South Africa.
According to her, Nigeria's current HIV testing uptake is quite low and for a country targeting 50 per-cent testing coverage, a robust community testing drive is needed to bridge the yawning gap.Speaking on the prevalence rate, Gbadamosi said the country had 3.1 per cent prevalence, with about 3.5 million people living with the disease globally.
She said the UNAIDS in 2013 put the figures at 3.5 million people living with HIV out of which 1.6 million people required anti-retro viral drugs.
The UNAIDS, she said, puts the treatment gap at over 54 per cent, revealing that only about 673,000 persons out of those living with the disease were currently accessing treatment.
However, she urged stakeholders to put in place policies to enable more people living with the virus access treatment using anti-retroviral drugs.
According to her, there is need to increase the number of those without access to treatment to reduce AIDS-related deaths.
She said that the viral load of an AIDS patient would be reduced drastically when placed on anti-retroviral therapy consistently and correctly.
Gbadamosi added that the chances of such patient transmitting the virus would also be reduced.
"We cannot achieve an AIDS-free generation without addressing issues of treatment, testing, stigma and discrimination.

"In our foundation, we believe that treatment is very important and we have gotten to the stage globally where no one deserves to die of the virus anymore.
"We have drugs that are available globally for AIDS patients to live a healthy and productive life even while living with the virus," she said.

Gbadamosi stressed the need for government at all levels as well as stakeholders to work together to contain the spread of the disease.
On the activities of the foundation, she said it was fully involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS globally.
According to her, the foundation is focused on treatment, prevention, and advocacy and provides free treatment option for about 7,000 PLWHA in Nigeria.
She said that the services of the foundation were being fully implemented in four states; namely Abuja, Benue, Nasarawa and Kogi.
Gbadamosi added that HIV and AIDS treatment was still a priority, stating that treatment coverage was very low.
She noted that the foundation was supporting five community-based organisations in the four states with commodities and also provides funds in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
The manager said the foundation also conducted community outreach on HIV and AIDS, counselling, testing, sensitisation and awareness campaign, as well as community dialogue which helps to address stigma and discrimination.

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