Nigeria needs to scale-up HIV/AIDS testing Gap – AHF

The State Coordinator for Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Abuja, Dr. Kema Onu has said that awareness campaign on HIV/AIDs in Nigeria has reduced despite the fact that the prevalence rate has not reduced. He made the statement during a mega HIV/AIDS community based testing campaign in Abuja. Dr. Kema said “The noise about HIV is […]

The State Coordinator for Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Abuja, Dr. Kema Onu has said that awareness campaign on HIV/AIDs in Nigeria has reduced despite the fact that the prevalence rate has not reduced.

He made the statement during a mega HIV/AIDS community based testing campaign in Abuja.

Dr. Kema said “The noise about HIV is going down as such we feel the need to continue the campaign because statistics is showing that prevalence is still 3.1 percent.

This is over three million people living with HIV and this is  actually for people who were actually tested because about 55 percent  of Nigerians don’t know their HIV status so this is (campaign) meant to scale up the testing gap.”

He explained that getting tested is the starting point  to stopping and reversing the trend for HIV in Nigeria because “Statistic shows that most Nigerians are living in a presumptive HIV Negative state which should not be, as such It becomes Important  to scale up HIV testing  as it is the entry point to stop the trend.”

Stressing on the need to get tested Kema said “If people are tested early and they know their status, if they are positive they will be linked to care and the outcome of treatment will be good but if they are detected late the outcome will not be as good.”

The challenges with community based testing even though it is more effective in getting people who will naturally not go to a facility to get tested but it is still faced with gender issues.

He said “there is a gender issue on this kind of testing because due to Social, cultural and religious reasons more male come out, but women are more positive in the sense that the percentage of women who get tested we have more of them testing positive.”

Christy Awunor, who is with AHF Nursing services said that testing campaigns  are usually done simultaneously “When we do community based testing like this we ensure we do them at multiple locations simultaneously using medically inclined trained volunteers to support our staff.”

She added that they don’t just stop at testing alone, they also link people to care and start on their medications if they test positive.