SERIOUS GAPS IN NIGERIA'S HIV/AIDS FIGHT, SAYS UN ANNUAL REPORT EMPOWERED NEWSWIRE, NEW YORK Nigeria need to considerably increase its investment towards the battle against HIV/AIDS says three United Nations agency, as the country is not making adequate progress when compared to others in similar categories. Entitled Towards Universal Access, the UN report which was jointly produced by the World Health Organization, WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, observed that in Nigeria, among other things, "considerably greater investments are needed to increase HIV testing and counselling among pregnant women in order to effectively prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to enroll eligible women living with HIV in appropriate care and treatment." For instance the report said Nigeria alone accounted for 32% of the global gap in reaching the target of 80% coverage with antiretrovirals to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. An annual report on the scourge of HIV/AIDS released on Tuesday by the UN assessed progress in 144 low- and middle-income countries including Nigeria and reported that the country is not among, for instance 15 countries of the same category who were able to provide more than 80 per cent of HIV-positive pregnant women with the services and medicines needed to prevent mother-to-child transmission. Nigeria was also not among 14 countries that provided HIV treatment to more than 80 per cent of their HIV-positive children. An additional eight countries have achieved universal access to antiretroviral treatment for adults and although countries like Cambodia, Cuba and Rwanda are included, Nigeria was not listed even in that group. According to Hiroki Nakatani, Assistant Director-General for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases of WHO, "countries in all parts of the world are demonstrating that universal access is achievable...but globally, it remains an unfulfilled commitment, and we must join forces to make it a worldwide reality in the coming years," The UN report stated that in the 25 countries with the highest burden of HIV among pregnant women, including Nigeria, testing and counselling coverage varied substantially. Among the 25 with the highest burden-and Nigeria is one of the 25-, the report said "seven countries provided HIV tests to less than one third of pregnant women: Nigeria (13%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (9%), India (21%), Ethiopia (16%), Chad (6%), Angola (26%) and Sudan (3%)." Regarding those countries, like Nigeria listed above the report called for "considerably greater investments are needed to increase HIV testing and counselling among pregnant women in order to effectively prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and to enroll eligible women living with HIV in appropriate care and treatment." In addition, the report added that "these 25 countries with higher needs also collectively contributed to about 94% of the global gap in reaching the target of 80% coverage with antiretrovirals to reduce mother-to-child transmission." According to the report, the global gap is the difference between the current number of pregnant women in need who have access to antiretrovirals for preventing mother-to-child transmission and the estimated number who must be reached to achieve the UN goal. In fact, four countries –Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and India– alone "account for half of the gap (50%), with Nigeria alone accounting for almost one third (32%)." But other eight low- and middle income countries have achieved universal access target or coverage of 80% or higher for antiretroviral treatment (ART) based on data from end of 2009. The countries are Botswana, Cambodia, Croatia, Cuba, Guyana, Oman, Romania and Rwanda. Nigeria is also listed according to the report as an economically low income country. Besides, there were 21 countries that are moving closer to achieve the universal access target, with coverage rates between 50%-80% for antiretroviral treatment. Nigeria is again not listed among those nations. These listed include Argentina, Benin, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Mali, Mexico, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Senegal, Slovakia, Suriname, Swaziland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and Zambia. Similarly, 15 countries, including Botswana, Guyana and South Africa, were able to provide more than 80% of HIV-positive pregnant women in need, the services and medicines to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission and 14 countries, including Brazil, Namibia and Ukraine, provided HIV treatment to more than 80% of the HIV-positive children in need. Generally in Africa, not including Northern African nations, some progress were noted. For instance, there is according to the report an estimated 3.91 million people in sub-Saharan Africa receiving the ART-ie antiretrovirals- in 2009, compared to about 2.95 million in 2008, showing an increase of 33%. Also those regions of Africa which accounted for 72% of the estimated treatment need in low- and middle-income countries, and 74% of the total number of people receiving treatment at the end of 2009. Other facts revealed by the report includes: • ART coverage rate for the region was 37% in 2009 compared to 28% in 2008. However, important intraregional differences in coverage were observed with greater access (41%) seen in Eastern and Southern Africa than in West and Central Africa (25%). • Intraregional differences were also seen in the coverage of HIV testing and counselling among pregnant women. In Eastern and Southern Africa, the region with the highest HIV prevalence, 50% of pregnant women received HIV testing and counselling, an increase from 43% in 2008. In Western and Central Africa, coverage increased from 16% to 21% between 2008 and 2009. • Some 54% of HIV-positive pregnant women in the region received antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV transmission to their children in 2009, up from 45% in 2008. However, sub-regions had distinguishing coverage rates (68% in Eastern and Southern Africa and 23% in West and central Africa). • Between 2008 and 2009, the estimated number of children in sub-Saharan Africa receiving antiretroviral therapy rose from 224 100 to 296 000. Total ART coverage among children in the region is about 26%. • In sub-Saharan Africa, home to 12 million out of the 15.7 million women living with HIV globally, women accounted for approximately 60% of estimated HIV infections. Ninety-one percent of all new infections among children in 2008 occurred in this region.
|
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
No comments:
Post a Comment