HIV/AIDS PREVALENCE RATE IN NIGERIA BY AGE. AS compiled BY ISU, SMART ELUU

HIV/AIDS PREVALENCE RATE IN NIGERIA BY AGE.

In Nigeria, the HIV prevalence rate among adults ages 15-49 is 0.9 percent. Nigeria has the second ­largest number of people living with HIV. The HIV epidemic in Nigeria is complex and varies widely by region. In some states, the epidemic is more concentrated and driven by high-risk behaviors, while other states have more generalized epidemics that are sustained primarily by multiple sexual partnerships in the general population.

Youth and young adults in Nigeria are particularly vulnerable to HIV, with young women at higher risk than young men. There are many risk factors that contribute to the spread of HIV, including prostitution, high-risk practices among itinerant workers, high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI), clandestine high-risk heterosexual and homosexual practices, international trafficking of women, and irregular blood screening.

The 2012 National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey-Plus have been released and it shows that Nigeria now has HIV prevalence rate of 3.4 per cent.

Rivers State is leading other states in the country with a prevalence rate of 15.2 per cent.

The Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu said the results from the survey were a testament of the efforts made by the Federal Government in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the country. The prevalence rate has dropped a 0.2% from the 3.6% recorded in 2007.

Ekiti State has the lowest prevalence rate of 0.2 per cent.

BELOW ARE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF HIV PREVALENCE IN NIGERIA

In the world three million people died of AIDS-related diseases in 2005 and more than 40 million people are living with HIV. Each day 14,000 people half of them aged 15 to 24 are infected. Women and young people are especially vulnerable.

Prevention, the centrepiece of UNFPA’s fight against the disease, is being integrated into reproductive and sexual health programming around the world. Key priorities are promoting safer sexual behaviour including delayed initiation among young people, making sure male and female condoms are readily available and widely and correctly used, and preventing the infection among women and their children.

According to the 2008 National HIV Sero-prevalence, Nigeria has an HIV prevalence of 4.6%. All the 36 states and FCT have HIV prevalence above 1% with 17 states having HIV prevalence greater than 5%. This translates to about 2.95 people (1.2million men and 1.73 million women) living with the virus in the country. The number of new infections is put at 323,000 adults and 57,000 children. Infection rates among young people aged 15-19 put at 3.3%; 20-24 at 4.6% and 25-29 at 5.6% are considered very high and a key national strategy in the current national strategic framework is to direct focused national HIV prevention efforts to address this trend. UNFP A currently support national HIV prevention efforts at the national level and in 12 states of the federation under the current Country Program of support to the Government of Nigeria, (2009-2012). Key areas of intervention and current achievements are enumerated below:

1.         Youth and ASRH and HIV Prevention

2.         Condom Programming with RHCS (Dual Protection) 3. PMTCT prongs 1 &2

4.         HIV & Sex Work and

5.         SRH-HIV Integration

THE TREND OF HIV FROM THE FIRST DIAGNOSIS IN NIGERIA

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus and belongs to the lentivirus family 1-5. The HIV was first identified in 1983 and was shown to be the cause of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in 1984.

HIV infection is characterized by the depletion of the CD4 + helper/ inducer subset of T-lymphocytes, leading to severe immune deficiency, constitutional symptoms, neurological diseases, and opportunistic infections and neoplasm (reviewed in Fauci and Lane)1. Two genetically different but related forms of HIV, called HIV-I and HIV-2, have been isolated from patients with AIDS. HIV-I is found worldwide and is responsible for the worldwide pandemic, and HIV -2, found mainly in West Africa, Mozambique, and Angola. HIV-2 is less pathogenic and makes little or no contribution to paediatric AIDS; therefore, all discussion in this seminar refers to HIV -I. HIV -I has been divided into other sub types based on the genetic analysis constituent of M (Major) and 0 (Outliers); hence there are subgroups or sub-types A, B, -C, D, E. The following subtypes are seen in Africa: A and D (East and Central), C (Southern Africa in over 90% of cases), and Are combinants (West Africa). Subtype C appears to be more virulent than all the other subtypes ediatrics. It is important to note that the CD4 count tends to be higher in children and it is not as reliable a tool as in adult. CD4 percentage is much more useful and in infants less than 12months of age, neither CD4 count nor percentage is predictive of Pnuemocystic carinae pneumonia risk.

TREND FACING THE DISCOVERY OF HIV AT FIRST IN NIGERIA

In contrasting the two dioceses studied, one sees a demonstration of leadership, or call it political will, in facing to the challenge of HIV/AIDS. Following directives from the Catholic Secretariat at Lagos, all dioceses were to adopt a multi-sectoral approach based on the national framework for dealing with HIV/AIDS crisis in Nigeria. Up until November 2004, the fight against the AIDS epidemic had been unsystematic and ad hoc in nature. Care for AIDS patients were mainly by a few NGOs and at some Catholic hospitals. My contacts with the Archdiocese demonstrated a complete absence of any institutional structure to deal with HIV/AIDS. I had earlier been told that poverty was the main problem, not AIDS.

Unlike the Archdiocese, the leadership of Ahiara diocese has demonstrated an understanding, and genuine commitment of the magnitude of the epidemic. On November 8, 2004, His Lordship inaugurated the Parish Action Committee on AIDS (P ACA). In his homily, His Lordship alluded to the fact that 12-13 years ago, he toured his diocese and showed videos on AIDS. People did not believe, but at the moment “AIDS is a reality and there is no cure”. Several times he used the Igbo name for AIDS, “Oria o biri n’aja ocha” (the disease that ends up in death). Some scholars see this term as intimidating and prefer oria nminwu (a disease that is chronic and debilitating).

The first group, a Parish Action Committee AIDS (PACA) w s launched this same day. Eventually, all parishes will have their committees on AIDS. The job of the Diocesan Action Committee on AIDS, a committee appointed a year earlier, is to train members of the parish committees who will equally go about in their parishes to raise HIV / AIDS awareness. Their work is purely voluntary.

It was of great interest to learn of the achievements of the Diocesan Action committee on AIDS barely one year after its appointment. Through its intervention strategy targeted on youths and women, seminars to educate and raise awareness were conducted among youths and staff in about twenty schools and youth groups totally about 14,000. The coordinator of DACA (Diocesan Action Committee on AIDS) to dissipate the myth that HIV/AIDS is found only in major cities, during the inauguration gave statistics from five small hospitals in the diocese, about 186 from 2002 to 2004. According to the coordinator, this number was for the ones who came to the hospitals. According to the coordinator, “These people are living among us unknown to us and they will continue to conceal it for fear of rejection, discrimination, stigmatization, abandonment, and violence by the family and community. As they conceal it, HIV disease continues to spread”. (HIV/AIDS Awareness Commission 2004).

The leadership demonstrated by the head of Ahiara diocese is better expressed in the words of his coordinator who ended her remarks at the inauguration by saying, "Let me use this opportunity to express our gratitude to His Lordship for being one of the few bishops from the Eastern part of the country that show much interest and zeal in the health care of his flock. He has always encouraged and supported us and financed all the workshops I have attended, since this committee has no take-off-grant as such.