By Chioma Obinna & Charity Ugwuanyi

Following the gaps and challenges facing HIV& AIDS in Nigeria, experts have called for the need to step up research efforts towards the development of an HIV& AIDS vaccine that would address HIV strains in Nigeria and the West African Region.

The experts who spoke at the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria Faculty of Public Health 2012 Faculty Day lecture tagged: The challenges of HIV&AIDS in Nigeria” pointed out the denial was a major factor militating against sustaining reduction prevalence of the pandemic.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Mohammed Ali Pate, who was the special guest of honour at the lecture series,  urged stakeholders and partners to join hands with the government to achieve a sustained reduction of HIV&AIDS prevalence and mitigate its social components as part of the government’s transformation agenda.

The Minister who was represented by the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, Prof. Innocent Ujah said despite efforts of governments and stakeholders, the control of HIV & AIDS still faces numerous challenges, including discrimination, stigmitisation of people living with HIV & AIDS, risky behaviours and the challenge of access to anti retroviral drugs especially among the rural community.

Pate noted that the government was committed to achieving the Millennium Development goals, including MDG6, which is to halt by 2015 and begin to reverse the spread of HIV&AIDS and other disease. “Therefore, public health intervention of HIV/AIDS prevention and control cannot be overemphasised.”

Delivering his lecture entitled; “The Challenges of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria”, Prof Emeritus Umaru Shehu who noted that despite the significant achievements in the HIV response in the last decade gaps and challenges still exist said there is need to strengthen research capabilities at all levels as well as promote research in the fields of behaviour communication, prevention programmes, treatment programmes and care and support programmes.

Shehu said research would help the objectively identify what works best and where, thus helping focus interventions where they would have maximum benefit thereby improving effectiveness and efficiency of programmes.

He  recommended integration of HIV services with other health services including sexual and reproductive health amongst others.

Continuing, he challenged public health and the post graduate medical college of Nigeria to take a leadership role towards increasing knowledge and skills and foster creative solutions to challenges in the response to AIDS through dialogue and debate.

He further charged them to advocate for implementation of appropriate an effective evidence- based policies and programmes to embrace the response to AIDS as well as strengthen research capacity an indentify research priorities across the sub – specialties among others.