In Nigeria, 2.3m persons living with HIV not on treatment

No less than 2.3 million Nigerians living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus are not on any form of treatment even as health experts have raised alarm over the growing incidence of resistance to Anti-retroviral drugs in the country.

Disclosing this yesterday in Lagos, a professor of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Professor Suleiman Akanmu, said only 900,000 persons living with HIV in the country are currently on a treatment programme as against the estimated total number of 3.2 million persons nationwide. Akanmu, who is also the Chairman, National Task Team on Antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Nigeria, spoke during a joint stakeholders’ Summit with the theme: “Drug Resistance Monitoring, Early Infant Diagnosis and Viral Load” organised by World Health Organisation, WHO, blamed the development on inability to carry out routine viral load test, as well as unavailability of second and third line drugs to treat HIV.