Why HIV/AIDS prevalence remains high in Nigeria
Day after day, Musa Isiaka, 34 years old and a security guard in Lagos, looked at the rashes on his skin, but could not explain the cause. According to him, initially he thought they were from mosquito bites, so I applied mosquito-repellent cream on my skin, but they did not disappear.
“After sometime, I became very sick, and as the situation worsened, a neighbour insisted that I consult a medical doctor. As at that time I did not know my HIV status because I was always scared of what the result would be”, Musa said.
“On that very day, I took a taxi and to the hospital. The doctor asked me to undergo some tests including HIV/AIDS. At the end of the test, the doctor said I had AIDS, the doctor announced the result: it was AIDS, fully blown.”
Isiaka has travelled back to his village, and who knows what has become of him now. His is not an isolated case because there are many Nigerians who are still very ignorant of their HIV status.
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate tomorrow (1st December) this is the 30th anniversary of the first World AIDS Day. Since the human virus emerged, HIV has become one of the world’s most infectious killers, infecting till date 76.1 million people and accounting for the death of 35 million people due to AIDS-related illnesses.
The theme for this year according to the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) “Know Your Status” is an opportunity for every community to unite against HIV, show support for people living with the disease and remember those who have passed away due to AIDS.
In 2017, available data indicate that about nine million persons were counselled and tested, with 239, 542 testing positive. Out of this, 136, 987 were female and 102, 555 male, according to Araoye Segilola, coordinator of the National AIDS/Sexually Transmitted Infections Control Programme of the Federal Ministry of Health. New data on infection are expected in March next year, officials say.
Segilola said that currently only 38 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria know their status, which means there is still a 62 percent gap to be covered.
This situation is a significant threat globally, with about 36.7 million people living with HIV. With Nigeria having the second-largest burden in the world after South Africa with an estimate of 3.2 million people, only one million are said to be on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). Industry official blame this on people’s reluctance to declare their HIV status.
Sani Aliyu, director general of NACA, said that AIDS day presents an opportunity to remind the public of the importance of testing for HIV because, according to him, “having an HIV test is an essential step towards accessing life- saving HIV treatment.”
He explained that as Nigeria makes progress towards putting everybody living with HIV in the country on treatment, NACA would continue to push for increased resources to be dedicated for prevention activities, which include improved access to HIV testing and widespread availability of self-test kits.
Ojo Sikiru, a Lagos-based medical practitioner, says that early discovery of one’s status is key to containing the spread of the disease. “Every Nigerian should know their HIV status because with the drug treatment it can significantly reduce the risk of HIV infection from spreading,’’ he told BusinessDay in an interview.
“HIV testing is important to know your status, for increasing treatment and ensuring that all people With HIV are offered preventive drug.”
He said that men who have sex with men and have a partner infected with HIV, sexually transmitted infection (STI) and unsteadily use condoms, these set of people is considers high risk of been infected with the disease.
“Working more on raising awareness about the importance of knowing one’s status and end all stigmas related to HIV testing will help curb the increasing prevalence,” Sikiru said.
Despite major progress recorded in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a number of challenges remain. Data from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) show that in 2016, Nigeria had the highest share (26.9%) of new mother-to-child HIV infections out of 23 priority countries. It estimated that 37,000 children younger than 15 years were newly infected with the virus.
But the good news is that that HIV testing can be done through self-testing, multi-disease testing and community-based testing, usually through free medical outreach programmes organised by NGOs, and faith-based organisations. Nonetheless, HIV testing programmes still need to be expanded with the help of political will and more investments.
Lanre Yusuf, a medical doctor in Lagos, believes that while the HIV epidemic has been hard to tackle, Nigeria has done well in terms of availability of antiretroviral drugs. He says that the ART drugs could almost be classified as free, as long the patients come forward to do the test.
What is HIV/AIDS?
HIV is a virus that attacks cells in the immune system, which is our body’s natural defence against illness. The virus destroys a type of white blood cell in the immune system called a T-helper cell, and makes copies of itself inside these cells. T-helper cells are also referred to as CD4 cells.
If HIV is left untreated, it may take up to 10 or 15 years for the immune system to be so severely damaged that it can no longer defend itself at all. However, the rate at which HIV progresses varies depending on age, general health and background.
AIDS is a set of symptoms (or syndrome as opposed to a virus) caused by HIV. A person is said to have AIDS when their immune system is too weak to fight off infection, and they develop certain defining symptoms and illnesses. This is the last stage of HIV, when the infection is very advanced, and if left untreated will lead to death.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH