I met a young man recently. He was appreciative of the quick intervention he got from the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, after he contracted HIV/AIDs, back then in the year 2020. He said he did not know exactly what he needed to do next. He’s been teaching high school financial accounting in Nigeria’s southwestern Osun state for the last decade. He enjoys his job and gets on with his colleagues.
“I can not thank NACA enough for my survival,’’ he says. “what I experienced then,…if one is not for the quick intervention I and some other Nigerians experienced, it could have led to death. It seriously affected me then.”
Olatunji Olawale (not his real name), a young teacher from a South-West State, was full of gratitude, because he hadn’t had this near death experience before until a friend referred him to NACA. Today, Olawale is living fine, with the virus, as he remains faithful to the retroviral drugs prescribed by medical practitioners.
NACA coordinates HIV activities in Nigeria. The Agency works to provide an enabling policy environment and stable ongoing facilitation of proactive multi sectoral planning, coordinated implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all HIV/AIDS prevention and impact mitigation activities in Nigeria. The HIV/AIDS Fact Sheet says the estimated number of Annual New Infections is 103,404. While the estimated number of Annual Deaths is 44,830 and the estimated people living with HIV/AIDS 1,800,000
Reports say that HIV/AIDS is a pandemic the world is still living with. It has shocked the world, overwhelming the health systems of even high-income countries. Predictably, the situation has elicited social and medical responses from the public and governments, respectively. Hence, the need for the Federal Government to establish the National Action Committee on AIDS, for quick response to the disease in Nigeria.
In Nigeria today, an estimated 1.6 Million persons living with HIV have so far been put under regular treatment.
The Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Dr. Aliyu Gambo recently said that presently, an estimated 1.8 million people live with HIV in Nigeria of which 90% are aware of their HIV status, 96% are on treatment and 84% are virally suppressed.
He said that out of this number, according to the breakdown of the statistics of HIV carriers already captured under the treatment net, 57,280 are children of 14 years and below, 551,106 are male adult from 15 years and above, while 1,021,041 are female adult from 15 and above.
After establishment, the Agency has employed analytical methods and collated data from various reports and official sources, working on it.
Another patient, Immanuel Ijanikan, living with HIV and very sick with severe arthritis, was admitted to a Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. His wife had recently died of AIDS, leaving behind two children for him to care for. His family believed that he would not live, so they planned to take him to his village, Sabon Gida in Kaduna State, to say goodbye.
Immanuel started receiving HIV medications at the teaching hospital which is supported by the NACA. He survived.
Speaking, he said, “I started taking the drugs and I discovered that within months, I became very strong. Before I knew it, the weakness I had because of arthritis left,” he said. “I discovered that this drug made me better, so, I won’t play with it”, he said.
More than One million people are accessing treatment across the nation through the intervention of NACA.
If asked, the National Coordinator of the National AIDS and STIs Control Programme (NASCP), Akudo Ikpeazu would say Immanuel is a model for other patients. Some of these patients have undetectable viral load. When people living with HIV come with the false opinion that drugs taken continually do not work, NACA could use him as a reference point.
Immanuel also is helpful in tracking patients. He knows the social problems of many of the patients and helps in the flow of the clinic for new patients. He also actively promotes other activities such as prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
He has helped in giving health talks at some hospitals and advised people living with HIV who are enrolled for HIV medications.
A practical approach to reducing the upsurge of AIDS in the country is by using first-hand experience by a patient who is getting it right. He gives pep-talks at health shows. During these health talks, a patient like Immanuel shares his experience and tells participants if there is anything that they don’t want to ask in public, he tells them to feel free to ask him.
If need be, he also shows them pictures of when he was sick to convince them of the importance of taking their drugs.
Immanuel, 40, has remarried and has two more children who are HIV negative. He met his new wife in a NACA-supported group of people living with HIV.
Nigeria indeed, has moved to ramp up testing and treatment for HIV virus in the country, with the support of the federal government.
It also said that out of about 150,000 children infected with HIV, only 80,000 are currently receiving regular treatment.
However, the government said despite the negative impact of the lockdown instituted as a public health measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 across the world, the HIV programme in Nigeria has proved resilient with an increase in the number of people placed on treatment.
The fact is that Nigeria had over the last few years recorded significant progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS. A recalibration of the HIV epidemic showed a significant decline in HIV prevalence from 5.8 per cent in 2001 to 1.3 per cent in 2018.
“Presently, it is estimated that 1.8 million people live with HIV in Nigeria of which 90% are aware of their HIV status, 96% are on treatment and 84% are virally suppressed,” Gambo once said.
The Agency under Gambo has embarked on campaigns, which is part of the country’s National HIV response, aimed at getting the public and private sectors, the communities and all stakeholders in the national response to play roles and to ensure epidemic control and sustainability.
The Agency has also ensured states’ ownership and AIDS remain on the political agenda to overcome all barriers that prevent access to services. The Agency has created an enabling environment that promotes equal access; safeguard the rights of PLHIV and hold decision makers and implementers accountable.
During a recent event, Gambo noted that recent evidences of the mode of transmission studies and Integrated Biological and Behavioural Surveillance Survey (IBBSS) aimed at identifying the source and distribution of new infections and the populations at greatest risk of infection, “showed that never married individuals, all typology of the key populations and new infections from mother to child transmission are the drivers of the epidemic”.
He said that interventions must be targeted at these population groups, adding that evidence drives the programme.
The National Coordinator of the Network of People Living with AIDS, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, expressed regret that at a time the world is targeting total elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV globally, Nigeria is still recording huge numbers in child HIV infection.
He said that the COVID-19 pandemic has helped in refocusing on ways to assist and empower those living with HIV so that they can be lifted from poverty.
According to him, poverty and inequality are among the greatest enablers of the widespread of HIV in the country.
The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (formerly National Action Committee on AIDS) was established in February 2000 to coordinate the various activities of HIV/AIDS in the country.
Among other purposes, NACA’s mandates are to: Coordinate and sustain advocacy by all sectors and at all levels for HIV/AIDS/STDs Expanded Responses in Nigeria; Develop the framework for collaboration and support from all stakeholders for a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary response to HIV/AIDS in Nigeria; Develop and present to the Presidential Council on AIDS, PCA, all plans on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria for policy decisions; Develop and articulate a strategic plan for an Expanded National Response to HIV/AIDS in Nigeria; Coordinate, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Strategic National Plan for the control of HIV/AIDS/STDs in Nigeria and all other approved policies; Coordinate and facilitate the mobilization of resources for an effective and sustainable response to HIV/AIDS/STDs in Nigeria, and Undertake any other duties as assigned by the PCA from time to time.
With over 221 employees, the Agency’s successes is recorded through support from development partners such as fhi360, International Trade and Development, Durham, NC; Society for Family Health Nigeria; Non-profit Organizations in Abuja, FCT; NACA – Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America among others.
Olamide Adeniji is a member of the editorial team of TheScript Newspaper
