By Ayodeji Ake
Amid Children’s day celebration, the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), has urged for increased promotion and awareness for improvement of children’s welfare, especially children living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and their families.
According to the Director General, NACA, Dr Gambo Aliyu, Nigeria still accounts for a significant proportion of children living with HIV infection globally.
“This burden is due to the lack of utilisation of the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services by pregnant mothers.
“Even though there has been progress in antiretroviral coverage for pregnant women living with HIV, transmission of HIV infection from infected mother to child remains high, estimated no of 9,999 pregnant women tested positive in 2020 out of 2,504,678 pregnant mothers tested for HIV” he said.
To reduce the growing transmission of HIV from mother to child, he said NACA “has been working with partners to scale-up services for HIV prevention, care and support.
“In 2020, Nigeria successfully increased Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services to over 6,000 sites with 37,111 pregnant women receiving antiretroviral treatment.
“Despite this progress, a lot more needs to be done to stop children from getting infected with HIV so that a HIV-free generation is made possible.
“As we celebrate with our children, please join us and help us win the fight against HIV in children by encouraging pregnant mothers to get tested for HIV to protect their unborn children. No child should be born with HIV in Nigeria.”
