THE National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, NACA, has said only about 10 per cent of Nigerians have ever taken HIV test.

The agency made this known in a statement to mark the celebration of Christmas.

“Statistics have shown that only about 10 percent of Nigerians have ever taken an HIV test once,” the Director-General of the agency, Sani Aliyu, said in the statement.

Aliyu, who also described this as a major challenge that must be addressed urgently, said:  “The only gateway to HIV prevention, care and treatment remains HIV counselling and testing.

‘’So if we must win the battle, the percentage of Nigerians that test for HIV must move from the current statistics to at least 90 per cent.”

He stressed that Nigerians needed to know their HIV/AIDS status, since it was the only way to stop the spread of the disease, adding: “I want all Nigerians to take deliberate and bold steps to know their HIV status.”