The Nation Newspaper

Tag: HIV

  • 270,000 Nigerian children living with HIV – UNICEF

    270,000 Nigerian children living with HIV – UNICEF

    The United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) has said that at least 270,000 children aged 0 to 14 years were living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Nigeria as at 2016.

    The figure represented the lion share of half of the 540,000 total infected children in West and Central Africa over the same year.

    Nigeria also recorded 37,000 new HIV infections among children out of the total of 60,000 new infections in West and Central Africa over the same period, representing 62 per cent of the new infections.

    The UN children’s agency warned that the West and Central Africa were lagging too far behind the rest of the world in access to HIV treatment and care.

    The UNICEF Director, West and Central Africa, Ms Marie-Pierre Poirier, in a report released on Tuesday, called for improvement of early diagnosis and access to HIV treatment and care for children.

    The report said four in five children living with HIV in West and Central Africa were still not receiving life-saving antiretroviral therapy.

    It warned that AIDS-related deaths among adolescents aged 15 to 19 years were on the rise.

    “It is tragic that so many children and adolescents today are not receiving the treatment they need just because they have not been tested,” Poirier said.

    According to UNICEF, West and Central Africa has the lowest paediatric antiretroviral treatment coverage in the world.

    The region has only 21 per cent of the 540,000 children (aged 0 to 14 years) living with HIV receiving antiretroviral treatment in 2016 – compared to 43 per cent globally.

    “A major cause behind this is the limited capacity of the countries to perform the tests needed for early infant diagnosis of HIV.

    “Without knowing a child’s HIV status, his or her family is less likely to seek the treatment that could prevent the tragedy of a child’s death from AIDS-related illnesses.

    “The situation is worse among adolescents: the annual number of new HIV infections among those aged 15 to 19 years in the region now exceeds that of children aged 0 to 14 years,” the report stated.

  • West, Central Africa left behind in Global HIV response

    West, Central Africa left behind in Global HIV response

    More than four decades into the HIV epidemic, four in five children living with HIV in West and Central Africa are still not receiving life-saving antiretroviral therapy, and AIDS-related deaths among adolescents aged 15-19 are on the rise, according to a new report released today.While acknowledging progress in several areas, the report Step Up the Pace: Towards an AIDS-free generation in West and Central Africa, jointly published by UNICEF and UNAIDS, shows that West and Central Africa is lagging behind on nearly every measure of HIV prevention, treatment and care programmes for children and adolescents. In 2016, an estimated 60,000 children were newly infected with HIV in West and Central Africa.

    “It is tragic that so many children and adolescents today are not receiving the treatment they need just because they have not been tested,” said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF’s West and Central Africa Regional Director. “We need to make better use of innovations to increase early diagnosis and improve access to HIV treatment and care for children. For example, the point-of-care technology diagnostic brings testing closer to where children attend health services and self-testing can be a good option for adolescents who may be more comfortable with it.”

    The region’s coverage of life-saving antiretroviral therapy among children living with HIV is the lowest in the world because many countries have limited capacity to perform the tests needed for early infant diagnosis of HIV. Without knowing a child’s HIV status, his or her family is less likely to seek the treatment that could prevent the tragedy of a child’s death from AIDS-related illnesses.

    The situation is worse among adolescents. The annual number of new HIV infections among those aged 15–19 years in the region now exceeds that of children aged 0-14 years. These new infections occur mostly through unprotected sexual contact and among adolescent girls. Equally concerning, according to the report, is that West and Central Africa has recorded a 35 percent increase in the annual number of AIDS-related deaths among adolescents aged 15-19 years — the only age group in which the number of AIDS-related deaths increased between 2010 and 2016.

    With the region’s youth population expected to grow significantly within the coming decades, especially in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, the numbers of children and adolescents becoming infected with HIV and dying from AIDS is likely to remain high, unless the HIV response – both prevention and treatment – improves dramatically.

    The report highlights that the 24 countries that make up the West and Central Africa region are home to 25 percent of children aged 0–14 years living with HIV worldwide.

    “Leaders of the region have endorsed a Catch-Up plan aiming to triple the number of people on treatment in the region – including children – by the end of 2018, the key issue now is to accelerate implementation,” said Luiz Loures, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director. “Countries should urgently put in place more effective strategies for early infant diagnosis of HIV, and start reducing inequity in children’s access to treatment.”

    The report proposes key strategies that will enable countries to accelerate progress in curbing the spread of disease. These include:

    1. A differentiated HIV response focusing on unique epidemiological and local contexts in each country and community.

    2. The integration of HIV services into key social services including health, education, and protection.

    3. Community ownership and local governance of the HIV response including working with families, better placed to help reduce stigma, access prevention, and treatment.

    4. Investment in innovations to remove barriers to scale-up including new diagnostic and biomedical approaches such as point of care diagnostics, HIV self-testing, and pre-exposure prophylaxis.

    UNICEF announced last week that at the current pace of progress, the global 2020 Super-Fast-Track targets to end AIDS among children will not be achieved.

  • 2,714 People live with HIV and AIDS in Niger

    No fewer than 2, 714 persons are currently living with HIV and AIDS in Niger State. The state Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Makusidi Muhammad, has revealed.

    While briefing newsmen in Minna, the Permanent Secretary said that 126,126 individuals received HIV testing services in the state in the past one year.

    According to him, out of the figure of those tested,  2,714 tested positive out of which, 2,312 presented themselves to be enrolled into receiving Anti-retroviral Therapy, (ART), services in various health facilities in the state.

    Muhammad disclosed that early sexual debut, contiguity of female sex workers, psychoactive substance abuse, low HIV testing services uptake, low condom use, transfusion of unscreened blood and poor management of STIs is the reason for the increasing rate of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the state.

    Muhammad, who was represented by the Director Public Health,  Mohammed Usman, stated that the state has experienced a progressive decline in the prevalence of HIV and AIDS from 6.2% in 2008 to 1.7% in 2014, the lowest currently in the north central zone.

    He lamented that stigma and discrimination still remain the major barrier to an effective fight against the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Muhammad said, “people find it difficult to disclose their HIV status for the fear of rejection from relations and community, this will hinder 90-90-90 global targets of achieving 90% of the people living with HIV knowing their status. Because 90% of the people who know their status are receiving ART and 90% of the people receiving ART having suppressed viral loads and push epidemic into an irreversible decline.”

    He said that the ministry has set up 310 Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV and AIDS services (PMTCT) sites across the states and has established blood banks for safe transfusion.

     

  • Kano to propose compulsory HIV Testing bill

    Kano to propose compulsory HIV Testing bill

    The Kano State Government said on Friday that it had been working to propose a bill on compulsory HIV/AIDS testing for all new couples in the state.

    The Commissioner for Health, Dr Kabiru Getso, disclosed this at a news conference to commemorate the World HIV/AIDS day in Kano.

    He said that the Ganduje administration had taken health as a priority and was working tirelessly to ensure quality healthcare delivery services in the state.
    Dr Getso explained that the state government, in collaboration with the state Hisbah Board, had proposed the bill, which was awaiting passage at the state house of assembly.

    According to him, “The state government had demonstrated concern about the care and control of HIV/AIDS by giving the scourge all the necessary attention it required’’.

    Read also: Kaduna: Ganduje spends N1billion on PHC delivery

    He stressed that the state government established the State Agency for the Control of AIDS (SACA), in order to record the progress and achievements so far witnessed in the control of AIDS in the state.

    “The state has, however, approved the sum of over N443 million to carry out many interventions and outreach services, as well as to create awareness across the state,’’ Getso said.

    The Commissioner said the government would continue to support people living with HIV/AIDS and would continue to create awareness on the prevention of the disease.

    The World Health Organization has declared every December 1st to be World HIV/AIDS Day, to give succour to people living with HIV/AIDS in the state

    NAN

  • HIV prevalence drops by 8% in Akwa Ibom

    HIV prevalence drops by 8% in Akwa Ibom

    A recent survey on Human Immuno-deficiency Virus ( HIV ) conducted in Akwa Ibom State has revealed a significant drop in the virus prevalence rate in the state.

    The survey which was carried out across the 31 local government areas in the state between April and June this year showed a drastic fall from 10.8 per cent to 2.8 per cent.

    The study, which was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was a collaborative effort between the state government and USAID flagship HIV/AIDS and TB project – Strengthening Integrated Delivery of HIV/AIDS Services (SIDHAS), and is implemented by FHI 360.

    A total of 4,313 households were sampled while 7,791 children and 9,145 adults were tested for HIV.

    The study found that the HIV prevalence among children 0 to 14 years was 0.4 percent while the prevalence among persons 15 years and older was 4.8 percent.

    The study further revealed a 0.41 percent annual incidence of HIV among adults ages 15 years and older. The number of new infections was said to be closely similar in females as in males (0.41% among females and 0.42% among males).

    However, the HIV incidence in ages 15- 19 was higher than the rest of the age groups; translating to nearly half of the new HIV infections occurring in the adult population.

     

  • 54 babies born HIV positive in Nasarawa – Official

    54 babies born HIV positive in Nasarawa – Official

    Dr Zakari Umar, the Executive Director of Nasarawa State Aids Control Agency ( NASACA ), said 54 babies delivered between January and September in the state tested positive to HIV.

    Umar made this known on Thursday in Lafia in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    Umar said out of the 1,194 pregnant women who keyed into the Prevention of Mother- to- Child Transmission (PMTCT) HIV programme in 2017, 54 of them transmitted the virus to their babies.

    He explained that cases of transmission recorded were due to lack of adherence to medical advice and refusal to take prescribed drugs.

    “Science has proven that it is possible to totally eradicate mother to child transmission of HIV if pregnant women adhere to medical advice and take their drugs regularly.

    “Those women whose babies tested positive must have refused to comply with their drug regimen during pregnancy,” Umar added.
    According to him, the case of mother to child transmission of HIV in the state has reduced over the years due to sensitisation and other preventive measures taken by stakeholders.

    He said available records from 2016 indicated that 66 babies were born with HIV.

    Umar attributed reduction in transmission of the disease to babies in 2017 to sensitisation and adoption of the PMTCT programme.

    He also advised members of the public to avoid acts that would make them vulnerable to the virus, adding “the virus is not yet over hence the need for people to take preventive measures.”

    The executive director urged people to get tested to enable them know their status in order to curtail spread of the disease.

    He said the state had domesticated the anti stigmatisation law aimed at protecting those living with the virus.

     Umar, therefore, advised those being stigmatised on the account of the disease to always seek redress at the appropriate quarter.

    NAN

  • GSK starts big African study of injectable drug to prevent HIV

    GSK starts big African study of injectable drug to prevent HIV

    ViiV Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline ( GSK ) Plc’s HIV unit, said on Thursday it started an African study to evaluate long-acting injectable drug for the prevention of its infection in sexually active women.

    ViiV Healthcare said in a statement that the cabotegravir study seeks to enroll 3,200 women aged 18 to 45 years from sub-Saharan African countries,.

    The “HPTN” 084 Phase III study will evaluate injections given every two months, ViiV Healthcare said.

    The company said that the study is being conducted through a public-private funding by ViiV Healthcare, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    Viiv Healthcare in 2016 had started a large study on HIV-uninfected men and transgender women who have sex with men to test an experimental long-acting injection for preventing the virus that causes AIDS.

    Reuters/NAN

    Read Also: World AIDS Day: NGO screens 4.5m Nigerians for HIV

  • World AIDS Day: NGO screens 4.5m Nigerians for HIV

    A non-governmental organisation, APIN Public Health Initiative, has screened close to 4.5 million Nigerians for the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) as the country joins other nations around the world to observe this year’s World AIDS Day on Friday.

    APIN’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Prosper Okonkwo, who disclosed this in Abuja, said in the last five years, the organization has carried out HIV testing for 4,475,318 individuals in the country with 70,655 persons enrolled on free HIV and AIDS treatment in three states of the federation, including Lagos, Oyo and Plateau states.

    Observed on December 1 of every year, the World AIDS Day gives people worldwide the opportunity to unite in the fight against HIV and show their support for people living with the virus.

    In Nigeria, the theme for this year is Right to Health: Making it Happen.

    Okonkwo, who spoke in a chat with media men in Abuja on Wednesday, said that 84 per cent viral load suppression rate had been achieved among those on treatment, describing it as a great leap towards UNAIDS target of 90 per cent viral suppression in the states covered.

    He also identified Benue, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti as five additional states under APIN’s coverage for the new Improved Comprehensive Aids Response Enhanced for Sustainability (iCARES) Project, which he said had made APIN the lead CDC implementing partner in Nigeria.

    Okonkwo said about 3.4 million individuals were estimated to be living with HIV in Nigeria, rating the country as one with the second highest prevalence rate in Africa.

    “Only about 1.1 million (32%) of the PLHIV (people living with HIV) in Nigeria know that they are living with the virus, while 970,000 people are on treatment with about 780,000 PLHIV attaining viral suppression. This is a far cry from the UNAIDS 90.90.90 goal,” he said.

    In commemoration of 2017 World AIDS Day, he called on Nigerians, especially men, to go for HIV test to enable them know their status, as statistics have shown that more women have tested than men over the years.

     

  • ‘Lagos records drop in HIV, AIDS cases’

    ‘Lagos records drop in HIV, AIDS cases’

    The war against the HIV/AIDS epidemic is being intensified in Lagos, it was learnt at the weekend.

    According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA), Dr. Oluseyi Temowo, 64, 554 out of the 217, 658 persons tested positive to the daedly scourge are on Anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment.

    Temowo stated this  at news conference on this year’s World AIDS Day on  scheduled for December 1. He gave the theme of the programme as: “Right to Health- Making it happen.”

    Relying on the the records compiled between January and June this year at outreaches and in communities, the LASCA C chief: “We know that there is a drop of 1.7 per cent. For the screening done among communities, the prevalence rate is 0.3 per cent, whereby 576, 406 were screened at different health facilities and 29, 010 were screened at communities. The figure on positive expectant mothers at antenatal in 2014 is four per cent , but now, we have 1.4 per cent.”

    Temowo said the state willbegin HIV screening for people living with disabilities  in the state, beginning with the deaf and the blind.

    “These set of people were neglected before but the decision to enlist them is to ensure that nobody is left behind in ensuring that everybody is captured for an HIV/AIDS  state,” said Temowo.

  • Chevron contributes $5m to Global Fund to reduce HIV infections in Nigeria

    Chevron contributes $5m to Global Fund to reduce HIV infections in Nigeria

    Chevron Nigeria Limited, (CNL), an affiliate of Chevron Corporation (Chevron), has announced the disbursement of $2.5 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). The fund will also be used for the implementation of the Chevron-Global Fund Anti-Retroviral Treatment Service Maintenance Programme (ART Programme), in Delta, Bayelsa, Ondo and Lagos states. Next year also, a final installment of $2.5 million will be disbursed to support these HIV programmes, making the total  contribution to $5 million by Chevron.

    These funds are in addition to the $6.7 million earlier donated by Chevron for the Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) in Bayelsa State.

    “The ART Programme will help bridge a critical national health gap and continue Chevron’s work in achieving an AIDS-free generation. The programne will help reduce new HIV infections and improve the quality of life for people living with HIV and other affected people in the communities of the targeted states.

    “Additionally, it will provide Nigerians with universal access to high-quality, patient-centered prevention, diagnosis and treatment services for tuberculosis, HIV and drug-resistant tuberculosis by 2020,” General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, CNL, Esimaje Brikinn, said.

    These disbursements are part of a nine-year, $60 million commitment from Chevron to the Global Fund. The Global Fund raises and invests nearly $4 billion a year to support programmes run by local experts to fight the three diseases in countries and communities most in need.

    The Global Fund is one of the world’s largest international financier of health care programmes fighting these three diseases.

    According to Brikinn: “Chevron has learned through decades of experience that our success is tied to the health and prosperity of the communities where we operate. Chevron’s social investments are developed through a participatory process and through partnerships not only with the communities, who are living in proximity to our operations, but also with other stakeholders, who share interests in common with our business (e.g., government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), non-profits, development agencies, among others.”

    CNL has also committed substantial resources over the years in implementing initiatives aimed at combating several diseases in communities close to its operations and beyond. “The initiatives include River Boat Clinic, building of community health centres, donation of medical supplies and sponsorship of health campaigns,”Brikinn explained.

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, thanked Chevron for the gesture and noted that the efforts of the company over the years have exemplified the private sector support for health intervention programmes in Nigeria.

    “We are happy about what Chevron is doing to support government’s efforts in the fight of HIV and other diseases in Nigeria. That is what we have been advocating; that the private sector should show concern about public health issues. Government cannot do it alone, and this support is needed to achieve a healthy society” Prof. Adewole remarked.

    The Global Fund’s Strategy 2017-2022 outlines results targets for the partnership. Programmes supported by the Global Fund will save 14 million lives in the three-year period, beginning in 2017, bringing the total lives saved by the Global Fund partnership to 36 million by the end of 2019.

    Those programmes will also avert up to 194 million new infections or cases of HIV, TB and malaria