The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Control, Amobi Ogah, on Tuesday, said Nigeria needs an estimated $8bn annually to sustain the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Ogah said this at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Nigeria HIV prevention conference with the theme, ‘Accelerating HIV prevention to end AIDS through innovations and community engagement.’
The conference was organised by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS in Abuja.
Ogah said there was a need to change the narrative by increasing local funding in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
An estimated 1.8 million persons are estimated to be living with HIV in Nigeria out of which about 1.63 million are already on the lifesaving medication of Antiretroviral Therapy, and Nigeria has the highest burden of children born with HIV in the world.
Ogah said the target to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV showcase by the year 2030 is still a long way off as the national coverage of Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission is less than 50 per cent, leading to about 22,000 cases of MTCT of HIV every year in Nigeria.
Hence, he noted that there was a need to re-evaluate, rethink, and re-strategise HIV prevention intervention programmes.
