HIV/AIDS still remains a public health threat that affects people across the world and Nigeria still ranks high among countries with huge burden of HIV in the world, making her a major contributor to the number of infected people.
Nigeria carries the second heaviest burden of HIV in Africa, and has the second largest population of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the world after South Africa. The high rate of new infectious continues to fuel the epidemic.
An estimated 3.2 million people are living with HIV; over 1.4 million of them require antiretroviral (ARV). Furthermore, PMTCT coverage is still low at 30%, and general population of those tested is less than 40%.
In 2014, The joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other foreign partners launched the 90-90-90 strategy which is an ambitious target to help end the AIDS epidemic by 2030; the aim was to diagnose 90% of all HIV positive persons, provide antiretroviral therapy (ARTs) for 90% of those diagnosed and achieve viral load suppression for 90% of those treated by 2020.
The 90-90-90 targets strategy is a transformative agenda for reaching people who are left behind. The targets are anchored on the principles of universal test and treat, an approach which is geared towards early identification of infected people, initiation of treatment and viral load suppression. The strategy is an attempt in bringing HIV epidemic under control.
In April, 2016, the testing and treatment policies were adopted by the government of Nigeria as a working document in line with WHO latest treatment guidelines. On December 1, 2016, UNAID 90-90-90 fast track initiative was launched by the President of Nigeria to end AIDS epidemic by 2030.
The new 90-90-90 treatment target reflects essential paradigm shifts in the approach to treatment scale up: rather than focus on a single number (that is those receiving HIV treatment), the new target recognizes the need to focus on the quality and outcomes of antiretroviral therapy as treatment services are scaled up. These new targets address progress along the HIV cascade of engagement in care, measuring the degree to which programmes are meeting their ultimate goal of viral suppression.
As hope for ending the AIDS epidemic depends in large measure on the world’s ability to provide HIV treatment to all who need it, in a rights-based approach, final targets for universal treatment access are critical. In order to meet goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030, expedited scale up by 2020 will be required.