NIGERIA: More ARV sites but some areas neglected - report
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| Nigeria has the third highest number of HIV-positive people in the world |
LAGOS, 18 July 2006 (PlusNews) - Nigeria is rolling out anti-AIDS drugs to a growing number of people living with HIV/AIDS, but getting hold of the medication is still a major struggle for those living outside key urban centres.
According to the National Consolidated Treatment Report by the National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Programme (NASCP), Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, has 11 ARV facilities, while the capital, Abuja, has 12. But many other states with higher caseloads of infection sometimes only have three distribution points, while most have only one outlet.
Oba Oladapo, of the lobby group, Treatment Action Movement (TAM), pointed out that Oyo State, one of the largest in the country, has just a solo treatment site. "What has been happening is that people living with HIV in some parts of the state like Shaki, a border town, have to travel for about three to four hours to access treatment in Ibadan, the state capital."
An estimated 72,650 people were receiving antiretroviral drugs at 75 distribution sites by June 2006, up from 33 sites in 2005.
A breakdown of the figures revealed that 29,000 patients were benefiting from the national ARV rollout, while the rest were receiving anti-AIDS medication from NGOs and projects funded by the US government.
NASCP warned that treatment efforts were being hindered by the duplication of activities by NGOs and the government, which tended to be largely concentrated in key urban areas.
Omolulu Falobi, executive director of Journalists against AIDS Nigeria, raised concerns about the lack of coordination in treating HIV-positive people. "The implication is that we may not get a total picture of who is doing what."
Although the government was providing ARVs free of charge, the cost of monitoring tests were also a major obstacle to people seeking treatment.
Falobi welcomed the progress made, but cautioned that the country with the third highest caseload of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world still fell short of reaching "the ten percent target - of about 500,000 - out of our HIV population".
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