HIV/AIDS: Is Nigeria on course to winning the war?

However  in a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) titled ‘Statistical Report on Women and Men in Nigeria’, it identified malaria, pneumonia, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, diarrhoea, hepatitis B and measles among the killer diseases in the country. According to the report, HIV/AIDS accounted for the highest proportion of infected females (63.5 percent) as […]

However  in a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) titled ‘Statistical Report on Women and Men in Nigeria’, it identified malaria, pneumonia, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, diarrhoea, hepatitis B and measles among the killer diseases in the country.
According to the report, HIV/AIDS accounted for the highest proportion of infected females (63.5 percent) as against 36.5 percent reported for males in the referenced period (2010-2013).
This resulted in 59.3 percent of documented female deaths and 40.7 percent male deaths in Nigeria between 2010 and 2013.
However, NACA has issues with the report saying the analysis cannot be true, as significant progress has been witnessed within the period of the review and so HIV/AIDS cannot account for more deaths than malaria which is said to be the number one silent killer of women and children.
The Director-General of NACA, Prof. John Idoko, however said the report only gave unfounded percentages of AIDS deaths without stating the total number of deaths upon which the percentages were based. 
“The total number of deaths and the number of deaths due to AIDS which resulted in the percentages were not given. Even the “Summary Distribution of Deaths by Causes, Year and Sex (2010-2013)” – Table 2.2a at page 7 of the report did not capture HIV/AIDS among the diseases.”
The agency saddled with the responsibility for the management and control of HIV/AIDS pandemic in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, keeps record of AIDS deaths in the country.
According to the NACA DG, the number of AIDS deaths in Nigeria between 2012 and 2014 is as follows:
              2012       2013        2014
Males      4,207    5,313     7,148
Females  5,386    7,791     8,961
Total       9,593    13,104   16,109
Source:    National Health Sector Validated Data 2012, 2013 and 2014

He said: “If the factual AIDS deaths given above were taken into cognizance, malaria which accounted for 108,453 deaths in 2012 and 46,612 deaths in 2013, according to the Summary Distribution of Deaths by Causes, Year and Sex, by far accounted for more deaths than AIDS in Nigeria within the period.
NACA noted that it is not possible for HIV/AIDS to account for such deaths especially with the progress so far made to control the spread of the virus.
HIV/AIDS, since it was recognised in the early 1980s, has been a critical health issue for women and men as the epidemic continues to undermine development efforts worldwide and mostly afflict populations already beset by extreme poverty.
HIV/AIDS has been particularly noted to affect the working population and prevent women and men from making meaningful contributions to development and improvement of families while at the household level, the epidemic increases the burden of care and erodes savings.
Professor Idoko while saying all hope is not lost but rather efforts are yielding the much desired results, added that with increased funding from the federal government and development, the number of people living with HIV who are on Anti Retroviral Therapy has sharply increased from 359,181 in 2010 to 747,382 in 2014.
“There are more remarkable improvements attributable to Nigeria’s HIV response. For instance, the number of HIV counseling and testing sites across the country from 1,046 in 2010 to 8,114 in 2014,” he said.
Creating awareness on issues of discrimination and stigmatisation has also helped to boost the number of people tested for HIV from 1,380,418 in 2010 to 7,101,636 in 2014.
It would also be recalled that Nigeria was reported as one of the countries with the highest number of babies born HIV/AIDS positive despite the existence of an intervention known as Prevention of Mother to child Transmission (PMTCT).
Bilali Camara, UNAIDS country director for Nigeria and the UNAIDS focal point for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at a workshop for journalists and persons living with HIV/AIDS to discuss the ambitious UNAIDS treatment target of 90-90-90 said that it is morally wrong for any baby to be born with the virus.
He said all HIV/AIDS positive mothers must be given treatment to ensure safety of their health and that of their babies.
But Professor Idoko has said that though Nigeria has not completely stopped the transmission of mother to child in HIV/AIDS, a lot of significant improvement has been made.
He said: “The number of sites for prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), has increased from 675 in 2010 to 6,283 in 2014, while similarly, the number of HIV positive pregnant women who received anti-retroviral prophylaxis to pregnant mother to child transmission has increased by over 87% from 33,891 in 2010 to 63,350 in 2014.”
He numerated the impacts and achievements of Nigeria’s response to HIV/AIDS saying that the HIV prevalence has declined from 5.8% in 2001 to 4.1% in 2010 and new HIV infections declined by about 50% from 338,423 in 2005 to 176,701 in 2015.
With this modest efforts Idoko says, “from these figures, it is clear that Nigeria has made significant progress in AIDS response. Effective antiretroviral treatment provides a dual effect of saving the lives of people living with HIV and sharply interrupting the transmission of HIV within the community.
“With improved domestic budgeting for HIV/AIDS and sustained external funding, there are plans to expand the coverage of antiretroviral treatment to 1.2 million adults and children by 2017 through the establishment of 2000 additional treatment sites.”
But then how soon can these intervention come to pass, for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS, the National Coordinator of the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN),  Edward Ogenyi, said that to them what is important is having treatment and the ability to live normal lives.
He said the passage of the anti–discrimination and stigmatisation bill has helped in no small way in reducing the burden of persons living with the virus but that more is needed to stop the spread of the virus as well as ensure that those living with the virus can live normal lives.