Working to Capture 270,000 HIV persons not on reatment says FG

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The federal government said it is working in collaboration with stakeholders and partners to bring into the treatment window 270,000 people living with HIV.

The Coordinator, National AIDS/STIs and Viral Hepatitis Control Programme, (NASCP), Dr. Adebola Bashorun stated this in Lagos on at the opening of the two-day National HIV/AIDS Differentiated Service Delivery Performance Review (DPR) Dissemination.

Daily Trust reports that 1.9 million Nigerians are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS while 1,630,000 are on treatment.

Bashorun said the Differentiated Service Delivery (DSD) has improved the quality of care provided to the community of people living with HIV.

The DSD is a person-centred approach that simplifies and adapts HIV services across the cascade to reflect the preferences, expectations and needs of people living with and vulnerable to HIV.

Bashorun, who was represented by Dr Nwaokenneya Peter, Deputy Director and Head of Treatment at the NASCP, stated that the country has achieved “Significant milestones in the DSD implementation.”

The first DSD performance review was conducted in 2021 between Akwa Ibom and FCT before it was later extended to cover four more states of Anambra, Lagos, Kaduna and Taraba with the overall objective of evaluating the implementation of DSD for HIV.

“Currently, we have over 1.9m people living with HIV and we have 1.63m on treatment and that means almost all our identified clients are on treatment and we have achieved about 89 per cent in terms of viral suppression in the country.

“This DSD has helped us in achieving this feat and improving service delivery across all the facilities of care in-country. Currently, we are working towards ending AIDS by 2030 if things are put in place,” he said.

Representative of the National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA), Dr Yewande Olaifa said the country has achieved a lot through the differentiated service delivery and said the challenge now remains how to sustain the programme, which is largely donor supported.

Techrectory with Agency Report.