[ad_1]
The results of the Nigerian national survey on people living with HIV / AIDS will be published in March next year, the chief executive of the National Agency for Combating HIV / AIDS said Monday in Abuja. AIDS (NACA), Sani Aliyu.
Aliyu, while speaking to the media during the celebration of World AIDS Day (WAD) in 2018, said the fieldwork on the survey would be completed in December.
World AIDS Day is celebrated on December 1 each year to encourage communities to unite against HIV, show their support for people living with the disease, and remember those who have died of AIDS.
The theme of World AIDS Day 2018, marking the 30th anniversary of the first World AIDS Day, is "Know your status".
Mr Aliyu said the survey was conducted in 27 of Nigeria's 36 states, accounting for about 75% of the total work.
The survey, for which the US government donated $ 90 million, is labeled the Nigeria AIDS Indicators and Impact Survey (NAIIS). It is the largest in the world and Nigeria is the twelfth country to lead it.
NACA had argued that records of the Nigerian-flagged disease were speculative and not verifiable.
"We are now in the Web 5 and 6 of the survey," Aliyu said.
"And by the end of this week and early next week, there will be only about six Member States left and we expect the field work to end on 21 December", a- he declared.
Aliyu said the results would be interesting and "will give the country more leverage to get more resources for the HIV program".
Acting on efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the NACA president admitted that Nigeria was still facing problems, as only about 50% of the children were living with HIV. pregnant women are present for prenatal care.
However, he said the agency would continue to embark on outreach programs to ensure that more pregnant women go to antenatal care.
Mr Aliyu also said that the WAD was an opportunity to remind the public of the importance of HIV testing.
"Having an HIV test is an essential step in accessing life-saving HIV treatment as we move toward treatment for all people living with HIV in Nigeria," he said.
In his remarks, the National Coordinator of the Program for Combating HIV / AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Health, Araoye Segilola, said that a key population in the country had not yet known its HIV status.
He said various innovative strategies were being used to reach the population.
This, he said, includes the continued expansion of counseling and HIV testing of couples (CHCT) and the introduction of new approaches such as partner notification services (PNS), the 39 HIV self-test (HIVST) and the recency test.
[ad_2]
Source link
