National Plan On HIV/AIDS To Gulp N759bn. 24/03/2010
Written by Ruby Rabiu
Nigeria would need N759 billion to implement its national HIV/AIDS strategic plan, the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) has said.The work plan which is expected to be implemented between 2010 and 2015 is geared towards strengthening prevention strategies as well as increasing the number of persons presently on treatment from 300,000 to about 800,000.
Speaking about the document which will be launched within the week, Director General of NACA Professor John Idoko said the national strategic plan will be used to advocate for resources from all stakeholders and partners.
Idoko revealed that the prevalence rate in Nigeria is presently 3.9% and drastic plans need to put in place to reduce the rate.
He said for Nigeria to achieve universal access as well as streamline the spread of HIV, its best option is to strengthen prevention so that no new infection will be recorded.
‘If prevention is strong, treatment will also be strong because the less new cases we have the better for us to concentrate on those already infected’.
Earlier the Director of Research and Strategic Policies Dr Alex Ogundipe explained that 35 states have already shown interest of implementing the plan which would make Nigeria a better place in terms of HIV/AIDS if followed.
Ogundipe said the plan has six points of focus which include promotion of counseling and testing for about 60 million Nigerians.
He said services for HIV/AIDS patients would need to be upgraded to take care of the number of infected and affected persons.