Institute restates commitment to HIV-free Nigeria

By Ikenna Osuoha

The Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN) has restated its commitment toward achieving a HIV-free Nigeria by the year 2030.

The Chief Executive Officer of the institute, Dr Patrick Dakum, gave the assurance when he featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Sunday.

Dakum said the institute was working in partnership with the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) and the Federal Ministry of Health to achieve the global goal of 95-95-95.

Nigeria is striving to meet UNAIDS goal of 95-95-95 by 2030, which is a global target.

He explained that “it means that 95 per cent of persons should be tested; the 95 per cent who tested positive are placed on treatment and 95 per cent of persons achieve viral suppression, making the virus undetectable.”

According to him, the undetectable level of HIV depends on the kind of machine used, saying that the country has 1.8 million people living with the virus.

The IHVN boss, who commended the country in general and NACA for containing the spread of the virus, said “Nigeria has done pretty well and government has been providing coordinating mechanism through NACA.

“If you look at what we have done in placing people on treatment, it is close to half a million.”

The chief executive officer noted that the institute, in a bid to ensure a healthy Nigeria, tested about 13 million people.

“We have tested about 3.5 million pregnant women too, so it is wide.”

He affirmed the determination of the institute to support vulnerable groups, especially women and women.