By Chinyere Amalu & Solomon Asuquo

ABUJA — The sum of $5.7 billion has been estimated to cover the gaps in the fight of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, the Director-General National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Professor John Idoko has revealed.

The Director-General who made this revelation yesterday in Abuja at a meeting to flag off National HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework/Plan 2010-15 Development, said that about $3.1 has been approved.

He pointed out that in order to utilise the resources that have been channelled for fighting the scourge, there is need for a national framework which would encompass plans from the state, local governments, networks and partners.

He also noted that there is a lot of gap in fighting HIV/AIDS, but prevention has remained a major threat in the country despite the support of development partners and donors.

“In the next 5 years, we need an estimated of $5.7 billion to cover the gaps, but at present $3.1 billion has been approved which is not enough. Over the last 5 years, certain issues have been raised in solving the problem.

“We have made achievement in awareness creation which has reached 95% in some rural areas, but prevention from mother-to-child in Nigeria still has 30% global gaps. We still have gap in people treated, which is, less than 40,000 in 2005 and 300,000 as of today. 830,000 is to be treated using a new guideline,” he said.