THE federal government has revealed that it is working with stakeholders and partners to bring 270,000 people living with HIV into treatment.
Dr. Adebola Bashorun, Coordinator, National AIDS/STIs and Viral Hepatitis Control Programme (NASCP), announced this in Lagos on the first day of the two-day National HIV/AIDS Differentiated Service Delivery Performance Review (DPR) Dissemination.
1.9 million Nigerians have been reported to be living with HIV/AIDS, with 1,630,000 receiving treatment.
According to Bashorun, Differentiated Service Delivery (DSD) has enhanced the quality of care offered to the HIV community.
The DSD is a person-centered strategy that streamlines and modifies HIV services across the cascade to reflect individuals living with and vulnerable to HIV’s choices, expectations, and needs.
According to Bashorun, who was represented by Dr Nwaokenneya Peter, Deputy Director and Head of Treatment at the NASCP, the country has reached “significant milestones in the DSD implementation.”
The first DSD performance assessment was held in 2021 between Akwa Ibom and FCT, and it was then expanded to include four more states: Anambra, Lagos, Kaduna, and Taraba, with the overall objective of reviewing DSD for HIV implementation.
“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.
The representative of the National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA), Dr Yewande Olaifa, said the country has achieved a lot through differentiated service delivery, but the difficulty now is how to continue the program, which is mostly donor supported.
