According to Nigeria HIV and AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS), 2018 as revealed by Professor Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health, while giving an overview of NAIIS on Thursday, the 14th of March, 2019 in Abuja, informed that the South-South has a prevalence rate of 3.1 percent, making it the highest compared with the other regions of the country.
Adewole added that the survey should, however, be used as a new beginning to do more work in the fight against HIV epidemic in Nigeria.
Also, the survey was conducted among adults whose ages ranges between 15 to 64 years across the six geo-graphical zone. It indicated that the North-Central zone follows the South-south zone closely with 2.1 per cent, while the South-East zone is at 1.9 per cent.
Additionally, the NAIIS, 2018 showed that the South-West zone has 1.2 per cent, while the North-East has 1.1 per cent. The lowest HIV prevalence zone is the North-West which has 0.6 per cent.
Commenting on the survey, Dr. Sani Aliyu, Director General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) observed that the data from the survey would greatly position the country to met the set target of ending the epidemic by 2030.
In the same vein, Mr. Michele Sidibe, Executive Director, United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) commended the Federal Government and the implementing partners for ensuring that the survey was successful. He described the result as a good news since it indicates a lower burden which captured new patients on treatment.
