Our Goal is to Halt And Reverse Spread of HIV - NACA DG. 29/11/10
Our common goal is to halt and reverse the spread of HIV by 2015
By Winifred Ogbebo
29 November 2010
Abuja — Our common goal is to halt and reverse the spread of HIV by 2015 and in so doing, also contribute to the developmental goals of the nation including Vision 20 :2020, the Director General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Professor John Idoko has said.
While briefing the press on activities lined up to mark the 2010 World AIDS Day last weekend in Abuja, he said to achieve this, there was need to provide universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes.
His words: "We believe that greater focus and effort on HIV prevention is our best hope and that effective strategies must be built on a detailed knowledge of the current epidemic, including what drives it and its likely future progression"
Idoko noted that though Nigeria has witnessed significant progress with its national response to AIDS, there is still much work to be done so as to achieve universal access and improve on the protection of the rights of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) and their family members.
He stated that for Nigeria to meet the 2015 target set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for countries to create universal access to care, government has to increase funding for AIDS to augment financial support from development partners.
Idoko who sought improved partnership between NACA and the private sector, stressed the importance of curtailing the economic damage caused by the high level of morbidity resulting from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria also explained that the federal government intends to double the number of PLWHAs receiving treatment to 900 thousand from 400 hundred thousand.
He said, " But we must also sustain the momentum in AIDS treatment and do more to support the needs of adults and children living with and affected by HIV"
The World AIDS Day will be celebrated in Abuja on the 1st of December with the theme "Universal access and human rights".