tribune.com.ng | Deborah Odulate | 22.Jan.2015

World AIDS Day which holds on December 1 of every year is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and commemorate people who have lost their lives to the virus.

In 2011, ‘Getting to Zero’ was chosen as the main theme for the commemoration of World AIDS Day. The theme which is the overall agenda for responding to HIV till 2015 echoes the UNAIDS vision of achieving “Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths.”

The theme of the 2014 World AIDS Day was “Close the Gap: No More Stigma and Discrimination”, shows the intent of the country to bring an end to all forms of discrimination and stigmatisation, which have been identified as the single greatest challenge to achieving a reduction in the spread of the virus.

Bringing an end to stigmatisation and discrimination of people living with the virus can, however, not be achieved through wishful thinking and inauguration of committees. Government must be seen to be ready to practice what it preaches and the first step that can be taken to show commitment to bringing an end to these challenges would be for the Presidency to assent to the Anti-Stigma bill which has been passed by the Legislature since April, 2014.

That a bill of such importance would take close to five years to scale through three readings at the floor of the hallowed chambers and eight months after, is yet to receive the assent of the Presidency so as to make it a law, binding on all and sundry does not depict seriousness of government at all levels to bring succor to people living with the virus.

Government should live up to its responsibility of protecting the rights of people living with the virus, who remain bonafide citizens of the country, show more commitment to the fight against discrimination and stigmatisation through the prompt assent of the bill into law and ensure appropriate punishment under the law for anyone, individual or organisation, guilty of such offense.

As rightly observed by the UNAIDS Country Director for Nigeria and Focal Point for ECOWAS, Dr Bilali Camara, signing of the Anti-Stigma bill would be a landmark in the efforts to end the AIDS epidemic in the country.

Another area that needs the urgent attention of government if success is to be achieved in the fight against the epidemic is the dwindling funding for HIV programmes across the country.

Recently the United States government decided to withdraw its funding of AIDS-related programmes in Nigeria, implemented through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

This withdrawal has brought to the fore the unfortunate dependency of the nation on international donors in the fight against the spread of the virus as the three tiers of government have been slow in funding HIV programmes in the country, an act which has impeded treatment of members of Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN).

The Federal Government had in July 2013 unveiled the Presidential Comprehensive Response Plan (PCRP) to bridge the evident gap in the existing treatment access schedule by enrolling an additional 600,000 eligible adults and children on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART), providing same for 244,000 HIV pregnant women, for prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), providing access to combination prevention services for 500,000 most at risks population (MARPs) activating 2000 new PMTCT and 2000 ART service delivery points across the country and providing an opportunity for over 80 million Nigerians to know their HIV status.

Since the unveiling of the plan, however, little or nothing can be said to have been done to implement its objectives. Suffice it to say that some states are yet to domesticate the PCRP to meet their particular needs.

With about 1.8million Nigerians being HIV positive and a large number of these being youths between ages 18-24, the economic driving force of the nation, a vigorous effort at ensuring that treatment is made available to those that need it when it is needed, remains the only option if the economy of the country is to be preserved.

Government needs to be proactive and scale up the funding of HIV programmes and indeed all health care issues in the country seeing that health remains an important component of the society.

Odulate wrote from Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Source: http://www.tribune.com.ng/quicklinkss/opinion/item/27393-hiv-aids-getting-to-zero-reality-or-myth