Well being advocates have renewed requires Nigeria to take full possession of its HIV response, warning that dependence on overseas donors threatens long-term sustainability of therapy, prevention, and care providers.
The decision was made on Thursday at a media engagement organised by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) forward of the 2025 World AIDS Day commemoration in Abuja.
In his remarks, the President of the Community of Individuals Dwelling with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Abdulkadir Ibrahim, urged authorities and stakeholders to prioritise native options and scale back reliance on worldwide funding.
Mr Ibrahim stated it’s time for Nigeria to take full possession of its HIV response and construct a well being system that leaves nobody behind, together with individuals residing with HIV.
He famous that though HIV interventions have benefitted from overseas assist for years, Nigeria can not proceed to rely on a programme that’s being dictated, particularly as donor priorities shift.
He stated latest modifications in United States world well being funding illustrated the danger of over reliance on exterior financing.
Whereas HIV programmes obtained some safety underneath the brand new coverage course, he stated prevention efforts had been nonetheless affected.
He added that what issues now’s sustaining the features already made, noting that integrating HIV into the broader well being system would additionally assist scale back stigma by making certain individuals residing with HIV are handled like different sufferers.
Retention, innovation, and group possession
Mr Ibrahim additionally highlighted the necessity for higher retention in care and fashionable therapy choices.
He advocated for wider entry to long-acting injectable therapies for therapy, not simply prevention, arguing that they assist scale back the burden of every day remedy.
“Retention is crucial. We should proceed to assist adherence, present psychosocial providers, and guarantee individuals who miss appointments are reconnected to care,” he stated.
He added that authorities efforts should be complemented by group actors, together with ladies’s teams, youths, and non secular leaders, who’re central to sustaining progress.
The Senior Supervisor for Prevention Programmes at AHF, Taofeek Adeleye, known as for stronger media engagement to counter misinformation and promote correct public schooling on HIV prevention.
Mr Adeleye stated prevention messaging should be constant and visual, very similar to spiritual reminders, arguing that stopping one an infection saves vital prices in therapy.
“We’d like the media to assist demystify the false data that continues to flow into,” he stated.
AHF expands youth-focused STI and HIV providers
AHF Nigeria introduced that it just lately opened Wellness Centres in Abuja and Benue to deal with the rising prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI) amongst adolescents and younger individuals.
The organisation’s Nation Programme Director, Echey Ijezie, stated the centres had been established to offer secure, youth-friendly areas for testing, counselling, and therapy.
Mr Ijezie stated the choice to focus on this inhabitants knowledgeable the partnership with Keffi State College to develop entry for college students and empower younger individuals to take cost of their well being.
As a part of the 2025 World AIDS Day actions, he stated AHF will conduct sensitisation campaigns throughout states, provide free HIV testing, and distribute condoms and different prevention supplies.
Mr Ijezie emphasised that HIV stays a world problem, noting that 1.3 million new infections happen yearly.
The commemoration, he stated, goals to advertise prevention, develop entry to care, and exhibit solidarity with affected communities.
‘The combat isn’t over’
The AHF Africa Bureau Chief, Martin Matabishi, stated Africa has made vital progress in opposition to HIV, however rising infections amongst younger ladies and adolescents present the response should evolve.
Mr Matabishi stated the AIDS response can solely be remodeled by embracing inclusive well being insurance policies, selling mixture prevention, and empowering communities to guide the combat in opposition to stigma and inequality.
He additionally urged the media to proceed shaping public understanding and retaining HIV/AIDS and different well being priorities seen in nationwide discourse.
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World AIDS Day
In keeping with the World Well being Organisation, 1 December marks the 2025 World AIDS Day commemoration, with the theme “Overcoming disruption, remodeling the AIDS response.”
WHO stated the day highlights the necessity for sustained political dedication, worldwide cooperation, and human-rights-centred approaches to realize the objective of ending AIDS by 2030.
The organisation famous that regardless of many years of progress, the HIV response now stands at a crucial level, with life-saving providers going through disruptions and plenty of communities experiencing elevated dangers and vulnerabilities.
Nonetheless, it added that hope stays within the resilience, willpower, and innovation of communities working to finish AIDS.
