Report rates Nigeria highest in children with new HIV infection

POOR implementation of Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) has been blamed for Nigeria recording the largest number of children acquiring new infections with about 60,000 in 2012.

 Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Prof. John Idoko, made the observation in his reaction to a new report on the global plan towards elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive released on Tuesday by the United Nations health bodies, including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). He said: “The report highlights the seven countries that have made tremendous progress, which is very commendable. PMTCT of HIV remains one of the biggest challenges in our response to HIV in Nigeria. We have acknowledged this and the country is addressing this challenge at all levels.

 “I am happy that the report also notes Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe to have doubled the numbers of children accessing treatment from 2009 to 2012.” Despite recording that new HIV infections among children have been reduced by 50 per cent or more in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the report had this on Nigeria: “New infections among children in Nigeria, which have the largest number of children acquiring HIV (nearly 60,000 new HIV infections among children in 2012), remained largely unchanged since 2009.

 Without urgent action in Nigeria, the global target for 2015 may not be reached.” Idoko, however, said on the directive of Mr. President, NACA, working with partners, has recently developed the Presidential Emergency Response Plan (PERP), which aims to increase PMTCT delivery points by 500, test two million pregnant women annually for the next two years, provide antiretroviral drugs for 80,000 women for the next two years, and provide Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) services to 80,000 newborns of HIV positive mothers.

The Global Plan Towards Elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive is an initiative spearheaded by the UNAIDS and the PEPFAR, which was unveiled in June 2011, at the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS. It has two main targets for 2015: a 90 per cent reduction in the number of children newly infected with HIV and a 50 per cent reduction in the number of AIDS-related maternal deaths. The Plan focuses on the 22 countries, including Nigeria, which account for 90 per cent of new HIV infections among children.