Africa and the fight against AIDS

Tomorrow, Thursday, December 1, the international community will be observing World AIDS Day. It will be a Day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection, and mourning those who have died of the disease. The theme for this year’s World AIDS Day is ‘Leadership. Commitment’.
Even though, many countries have made concerted efforts to combat AIDS, the disease remains a major public health concern and cause of deaths in many parts of the world, especially in Africa.
The HIV infection is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), while it is spread when blood, semen, or vaginal fluids from an infected person enter another person’s body, usually through sexual contact, from sharing needles when injecting drugs, or from mother to baby during birth. Although, Africa is home to about 16 percent of the world’s population, Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounts for 69 percent of all people living with HIV and 70 percent of all AIDS related deaths.
Incidentally, of all people living with HIV globally, 9% of them are in Nigeria. This scary figure ranks Nigeria as the second amongst the highest HIV-burdened countries in the world. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), HIV prevalence is remarkably small (3.2%) compared to other sub-Saharan African countries such as South Africa (19.1%) and Zambia (12.5%), but the size of Nigeria’s population means that there were about 4 million people living with HIV in 2015.
Nigeria, together with South Africa and Uganda, account for almost half of all annual new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. This is despite achieving a 35 percent reduction in new infections between 2005 and 2014. Approximately 210,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in Nigeria in 2015, which is 14 percent of the global total. Since 2005, there has been no reduction in the number of annual deaths, indicative of the fact that only 20 percent of people living with HIV in Nigeria are accessing antiretroviral treatment (ART). Unprotected heterosexual sex accounts for about 80 percent of new HIV infections, with the majority of infections among prostitutes. Although prostitutes, homosexuals and drug addicts make up only 1% of the Nigerian population, they account for around 23 percent of all new HIV infections because many of them do not use condoms when they have sex.
Experts say there is no cure for AIDS, although several drug cocktails are proving effective in prolonging lives and giving patients better health. However, treatment can be costly and beyond the reach of many in the most vulnerable sectors.
While poverty is undoubtedly a crucial factor as to why health problems are so severe in Africa, political will of national governments is paramount, despite disheartening odds.
Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS has been particularly noted to affect the working population and prevent women and men from making meaningful contributions to development and improvement of families while at the household level, the epidemic increases the burden of care and erodes savings.
While calling on both the federal and state governments to intensify efforts at curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, it is imperative that such measures begin with mass sensitisation of the population on the dangers of drugs and substance abuse, including indiscriminate and unprotected sex.