Nigeria on Thursday launched an online donation portal to boost equal patient access to HIV/AIDS treatment in the most populous African country.
The “HIV Trust Fund Online Donation Portal” was launched in the capital city of Abuja on World AIDS Day, with the authorities calling for a more robust response against the scourge of HIV through equal access to treatment and prevention.
There was an urgent need to equalize access to essential HIV services, particularly for pregnant women, their partners, children, key populations and those often forgotten, said Gambo Aliyu, head of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), at the launching ceremony.
“We must all now work together to address the inequalities which pose barriers to ending the epidemic,” said Aliyu, noting the move aimed to support the government’s effort toward ending the epidemic by 2030.
Boss Mustapha, Nigeria’s secretary to the Government of the Federation, said the move would remove the economic, social, gender, cultural, and legal barriers to HIV prevention services across population groups that are vulnerable to the epidemic.
According to NACA, there is currently a national HIV prevalence in Nigeria of 1.4 percent among adults aged 15-49. The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates 1.9 million people were living with HIV in Nigeria in 2021. ■