Experts Claim 2.9m HIV Positive Nigerians Are in Hiding & Avoiding Treatment

At a symposium organised by the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, in collaboration with Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Lagos branch to mark the World AIDS Day, celebrated yearly on December 1, Nigerian HIV experts revealed an estimated 2.9 million people living with HIV/AIDS out of the 3.4 million Nigerians diagnosed last year are not receiving the needed treatment to suppress the infection.

Those affected, most currently hiding, are not only at risk of death from HIV related illnesses, but are also infecting new people, causing a surge of the disease.

Vanguard reports in her submission, representative of the Population Council Abuja, Dr. Sylvia Adebajo noted that only 500,000 people are currently on treatment, while the 2.9 million largely men, serve as reservoir for the spread of HIV.

“Men do not go to hospital as much as women so they are the most difficult to reach. Those at higher risks include; women, homosexuals, men who engage with drugs and those who have sex with female sex workers,” she said.

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Adebajo said  the attitude of testing people and letting them go without follow up needs to be stopped, and more people, particularly men needs to be reached with treatment.

Director-General of NIMR, Prof Innocent Ujah regretted that despite the availability of effective structures for diagnosis and clinical management, the AIDS epidemic still claims an estimated two million lives each year, of which about 270, 000 are children.