Civil society for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (CISHAN) has asked President Bola Tinubu to declare an emergency state in the HIV response to mobilize urgent actions.
The South-South Zonal Coordinator for Civil Society for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (CISHAN), Dr. Bright Oniovokukor, in a communication that governments of all levels must prioritize the mobilization of domestic resources to guarantee the sustainability of HIV efforts.
The launch was signed jointly with Hamza Aliyu, the Zonal Coordinator for North Central for
Cishan said that Nigeria needs to find a more sustainable approach, one that prioritizes the mobilization of domestic resources and addresses the complex social, economic and cultural factors that drive the country's epidemic.
According to him, the challenges before Nigeria HIV response included a high prevalence of drug use among young teenagers.
He said: “The national and state budgets of 2025 have assigned less than 0.0001 percent to the fight against HIV, despite the call of the Abuja Declaration for 15 percent. This is unacceptable.
“The pause in American interventions has created a pandemmonium sensation in the HIV response, with many activities that depend largely on the financing of donors. For a long time, governments (national, states and local) have paid the lips service to finance the national response.
“All interested parties, including government, civil society and the private sector, must join to address the HIV response with a unified approach. The response of civil society has been weak and the time for the concerted efforts to end HIV is now!
“The time to act is now. Nigeria cannot afford to reverse the profits obtained in the fight against HIV. With a collective action and a renewed commitment to the mobilization of domestic resources, Nigeria can re -route your HIV response and achieve its goal of ending aid by 2030, ”he said.
Dr. Ovokukor warned that insufficient activities of consciousness and sensitization, particularly between children and adolescents, leave them vulnerable to HIV infection and the profits obtained in the last 15 years in prevention have been lost due to the change in the approach of the International donors, especially the United States. .