The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) on Thursday inaugurated the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) and Pediatric Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Acceleration Committee in partnership with the Osun State Government as part of the efforts to ensure a coordinated response and comprehensive approach to ending the public health challenge.
The agency, however, assured that the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was irrevocably committed to ending HIV/AIDS and achieving the goal of an AIDS-free generation in Nigeria by 2030.
The Director General of the agency, Dr. Temitope Ilori, who dropped the hint while inaugurating the Committee at the Ministry of Health premises in the state, noted that the inauguration of the Committee in the state was part of a larger national strategy, with Similar committees are being launched in other states to build an AIDS-free nation.
According to her, “the Agency has also provided hundreds of adolescent and young women in the state with different self-sustaining work tools that include hair dryers, grinding machines, sewing machines, ovens, among others, since more than 800 residents of the state received free medical treatment.
“The main objective of the Committee is to address the treatment gap among pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV and ensure that they receive free and continuous medical care and support.
“The committee would help reduce new HIV infections among children and improve health outcomes for HIV-exposed infants by improving PMTCT services and expanding pediatric HIV care in the state.
“The establishment of this Committee signifies a renewed agenda of hope by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his commitment to intensify efforts in these critical areas, striving to close existing gaps and ensure that no child is born with HIV in Nigeria,” he said.
“I am here in Osun, on the orders of Mr. President to come and supervise the Osun State Agency for AIDS Control and also to interact with people living with the disease. Apart from that, we also want to empower our people by conducting medical outreach activities for multiple diseases and distributing materials to young and vulnerable women.”
“We are happy that Osun state has a prevalence of 0.9%, which is lower than the national average. Nigeria has a huge burden of children born with HIV and Osun State is not an exclusion.
“Therefore, we have come today to inaugurate the prevention of mother to child transmission committee to ensure that no child is born with HIV positive status in Osun State in particular and Nigeria in general.
“The committee is multi-sectoral and consists of the media, health professional bodies, traditional rulers, religious bodies and officials of the Osun State Agency for AIDS Control, while the Ministry of Health is to increase public awareness about HIV/AIDS. as the state still records new infections.
“Last year, we had 26,000 new infections among children aged 0 to 14 years and 15,000 AIDS-related deaths among children aged 0 to 14 years, showing that it remains a public threat. Therefore, only when we work together with our state governors and local government agencies can we change the narrative.
“As we have launched the Committee on how to sustain our achievements and move forward to ensure that no child is born HIV positive, the multi-disease outreach will also allow people to know their disease status.
“With this program, our people would get tested for HIV, malaria, blood pressure, sugar control, etc. In short, we want our people to know their HIV status; Once they know their status, they will be able to sign up and link up where they will be able to access medications for free at all of our medical facilities.
“I want to assure you that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made provisions for the medicines and they are free of charge in all our primary health care centres. If you know your status and are HIV positive, you can access your medications and be virally suppressed, meaning you cannot transmit the disease to anyone.
“Today, we have many HIV positive mothers who give birth to HIV negative children because they take their medications, and equally we have many HIV positive women who are married to HIV negative husbands who remain HIV negative and so on. forward. “What we are saying, in essence, is that it is imperative that everyone knows their status and uses their medications every time they are tested and confirmed positive,” he explained.