Nigeria at bottom of table for HIV testing
The WHO recently issued new guidelines for HIV diagnosis in hopes of offering more people testing and possible treatment. How do you see Nigeria implementing this? HIV testing remains the gateway to an effective nationwide control of HIV. Testing enables a person to know his status thereby helping the person to stay negative or alternatively […]
The WHO recently issued new guidelines for HIV diagnosis in hopes of offering more people testing and possible treatment. How do you see Nigeria implementing this?
HIV testing remains the gateway to an effective nationwide control of HIV. Testing enables a person to know his status thereby helping the person to stay negative or alternatively to seek for treatment.
Nigeria remains at the bottom of the table for uptake of testing services in Africa at about 10% of the population taking up these crucial services. This is compared to Malawi with a 70% uptake. The new focus is on getting testing out to the communities and also improving the quality of testing to prevent misdiagnosis.
Implementing the new policy in Nigeria would entail greater government funding to train staff and procure kits, but most importantly there should be put in place a robust sensitization of the populace to drive up demand.
Involving People Living with HIV (PLA) is key to the success of this community component as that is the surest way to reduce stigma which is the main impediment to uptake of HTS services.
Do you see these new guidelines impacting the 90-90-90 around the world or in Nigeria?
These new guidelines, if properly implemented would effectively address the testing gap of nearly 90% in Nigeria. The goal is to reach at least 90% of the population knowing their HIV status by 2020.
What, in your opinion, would it take to get more people tested and placed on treatment?
As I earlier said, the key to getting people tested is by creating demand, this can be done by educating the communities and most importantly addressing the stigma that is attached to HIV infection, which despite all efforts still persists and continues to manifest in different forms. Supporting PLA who have been open with their status in their communities would greatly help to address this stigma.
A recent UNAIDS report shows young women getting infected by older men and young women getting the virus in adulthood. What does that say about behaviours toward Positive Living?
Poverty is a key driving force in accelerating the spread of HIV. If young women are being infected by older men then the cause would be poverty.
Here again the concept of Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention with People Living With HIV, which is being pushed hard by organizations such as MSH, remain key to educate people living with AIDS on prevention of new infections for themselves and the community. We all need to work very hard on this important concept.
How has flat funding and donors pulling back support affected the lives of People Living with HIV?
It has been very hard for us, what with having to pay some costs which were free. A PLA would most likely be required to visit his treatment facility once every month to get his refill. With transportation costs rising everyday he would also then be required to pay for other services including but not limited payment for his CD4 test which are vital to knowing whether his drugs are being effective.
It is very crucial that governments at all levels step in and fill the funding gap that would be created when the Implementing Partners and donors pull out. This would entail some real funding.
For example, some organizations like MSH have created seamless operational systems in the treatment centres where they operate. They have trained PLA to carry out some crucial functions in these centres and actually supporting these PLA to deliver those services. These services like counselling really increase the uptake of services by making PLA comfortable when they come to the hospital. This costs money and this gap would be hard to fill when the donors pull out.