The Director-General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA),Dr Director -General, has revealed that Nigeria has recorded a significant decline in the number of persons infected with HIV/AIDS.
He made this revelation at a news conference in Abuja on Friday, ahead of the 2023 World AIDS Day (WAD). WAD is a global observance, annually celebrated on Dec. 1 around the world to raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic, caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourn those who died of the disease.
The day has “Communities: Leadership to End AIDS by 2030” as its theme for 2023.
The NACA boss, therefore, said “Nigeria like many other countries has made significant strides in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but there is still much to be done to achieve the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
“Nigeria has the second largest burden of HIV infection. Currently, a total of 1.8 million persons are estimated to be living with HIV in the country, out of which, about 1.63 million are already on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), a lifesaving medication.
“Approximately, 58 per cent are estimated to be females, and 42 per cent are males.
“The national average Mother-To-Child Transmission rate of 22 per cent is driven by a large number of states with transmission rates above 25 per cent and few states with rates below 15 per cent.
