Thought Leadership

125,000 people living with HIV are accessing antiretrovirals in Nigeria

1 Mins read

In 2001, the Nigerian Government government declared an ambitious national treatment antiretroviral target (the drug treatment for HIV/AIDS) to reach 100,000 people by 2003, scaling up to 250 000 by the end of 2006. The ambitious aim was to have 1 million people in treatment by 2009.

A recent report by the The Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria, a non government organization in Nigeria showed that there are currently 124,572 PLHAs accessing antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) in various centres across the country. Although this means that the number of people on ART has multiplied ten fold since 2002 in Nigeria, but this represents only about one in five of the number who actually need the drugs.

The report also says that the delivery of ARVs response is still predominantly donor driven i.e most of the funds come from development partners.

Hardly any guidelines were found in centers delivering ARVs…implying a diversity of practice depending on the provider. Many sites lacked adequate space for counseling….and did not stock second line drugs for patients failing the first line drug combinations.

The full report can be found here.

The Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria aims to support and help to sustain Health Reform Agenda in the country. The origin of the Foundation was the Change Agent Programme (CAP) which was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Last year it organised a conference on the state of health care in Nigeria. The report of this conference can be found here.

http://www.nigeriahealthwatch.com/

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has…Margaret Mead

Related posts
Thought Leadership

Data is life: Achieving Nigeria's Digital-in-Health Approach

4 Mins read
Data and technology play a crucial role in the healthcare sector. The advent of technological innovations, including artificial intelligence, telemedicine, and mobile…
Thought Leadership

Navigating Nigeria’s Healthcare Landscape: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategic Partnerships

4 Mins read
Chukwuemeka Oguanuo (Lead writer) Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with over 200 million people — a number that is projected to…
Thought Leadership

Developing a Climate Resilient WASH Policy in Nigeria Come Rain or Drought

3 Mins read
In 2018, the Federal Government of Nigeria developed a 13-year strategy to address the WASH crisis in the country. Five years post-implementation,…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *