By Sola Ogundipe

The Federal Government has been tasked to live up to the expectation of Nigerians by meeting the goal of eliminating Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, MTCT, in the country by 2030.

Cross section of mothers with their newborns. They need available and accessible health care services towards attaining successful prevention and elimination of HIV . Photo by Sola Ogundipe.

Making the call in Enugu, during the national advocacy meeting of the Journalists Alliance for Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV in Nigeria, JAPiN, advocates for the prevention and elimination of   Mother-To-Child Transmission  of HIV, MTCT, lamented that Nigeria had been left behind in the global efforts to mitigate burden of MTCT HIV transmission.

Citing what was described as “the poor aggregation and coordination of eMTCT and PMTCT activities” coupled with dwindling international financial support for HIV/AIDS activities, delegates resolved that the Federal government  should be guided by the new UNAIDS target of 90:90:90, which is to ensure that 90 per cent of the global population are tested for HIV, 90 per cent of those who test positive have access to treatment and for 90 per cent to be virally suppressed.

According to UNICEF, Nigeria currently accounts for 55 percent of the new HIV infections in West, Central Africa Region (WCAR), and with 3.4 million people living with the virus, Nigeria is regarded as the country with the second highest burden of HIV in the world after South Africa. Currently, an estimated 60,000 new HIV infections are recorded among children in the country, a situation that has called for aggressive eMTCT and PMTCT intervention.

Worse still, the high prevalence of HIV among pregnant women, high total fertility rate,  culture of prolonged breast feeding, and non-use of modern health facilities for antenatal and delivery purposes, among others, contribute to the high rate of MTCT in the country. Better  monitoring assistance for coverage and creation of  strategic local funding initiatives were also recommended.