Nura Iro Ma'aji
7 July 2008
opinion
This issue of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria has remained the most pressing issue of concern over the years and has attracted the attention of non-governmental organisations locally and internationally. This is due to the fact that various Nigerian governments have not paid adequate attention to reverse the epidemic.
Historically, studies have shown that the first two HIV cases in Nigeria were identified in 1985 and were reported at an international AIDS conference in 1986. Since then, no effort has been made by government to assess the HIV situation in the country until in 1991 when the Federal Ministry of Health made their first attempt to assess the situation.
The result showed that 1.8 percent were infected with HIV and subsequent surveillance report revealed that during the 1990s, the HIV prevalence rose from 3.8 percent in 1993 to 4.5 percent in 1998.
However, hope was restored in 1999 when President Olusegun Obasanjo established the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), and in 2001, he set up HIV Emergency Plan (HEAP). Despite these positive intentions, in 2006, it was estimated that just seven percent infected women and men were receiving antiretroviral therapy and only 0.2 percent of pregnant women were receiving treatment to reduce the risk of mother to child transmission.
In 2005, studies showed that 240,000 children were living with HIV most of whom became infected from their mothers. Another study also showed that 80 percent of HIV infections in Nigeria are transmitted through heterosexual sex and cases due to transfusions account for up to 10 percent of new infections in Nigeria. Moreover, women are particularly affected with the epidemic in Nigeria.
In 2006, for example, UNAIDS estimated that women accounted for 6.15 percent of adults aged 15 and above living with HIV. All these in my own opinion should be attributed to the poor healthcare system we have in Nigeria which is also characterised by corruption and mismanagement. This is because large parts of the country lack even basic healthcare provision making it difficult to establish adequate HIV testing services.
Finally, I think if the dream of the present administration is to make Nigeria one of the twentieth most industrialised economies of the world by the year 2020, the problems militating against the healthcare system must be dealt with in their entirety. Secondly, since women suffer most without their consent, they should be allowed to participate in the decision-making process so as to find the best way out.
Nura Iro Ma'aji, Society for Youth Awareness and Health Development (SYAHD), Kano State,
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