Nigeria Lags Behind In HIV/AIDS’ Response – JAPiN

Nigeria is said to be
lagging behind as far as efforts to mitigate the burden of HIV/AIDS through Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV is concerned.
This was among observations made in a communique by the Journalists Alliance for the Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV in Nigeria (JAPiN), in Enugu State during its 2015 annual meeting.
The development, according to JAPiN, is mostly due to poor aggregation and coordination of total efforts made towards elimination of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (eMTCT).
According to the communique, which was signed by the National Coordinator of JAPiN, Mr Sola Ogundipe, this observation followed reports from various JAPiN zones across the country.
“Observations from the various JAPiN zones and states have shown that the progress made in PMTCT towards eMTCT have been grossly inadequate,” the communique stated.
Other observations made were, that there was a significant decline in funding of PMTCT activities and other HIV interventions by international donors in Nigeria, as well as a huge gap in advocacy due to poor coordination.
JAPiN also observed a huge communication gap in PMTCT efforts towards eMTCT in Nigeria due to poor cooperation from frontline managers of HIV and AIDS in Nigeria.
It further noted what it called “man-made” barriers to efforts of Nigerian journalists, specifically JAPiN members, as communicators/advocates for PMTCT and eMTCT, saying that members have been faced with harsh receptions from government agencies, in which case NACA and some SACAs have been found culpable.
There is also poor documentation of cases, which is believed to have beclouded the true situation of MTCT in Nigeria and efforts to prevent and eliminate it, even as “Nigeria is still slow at graduating to B+ Option for PMTCT.”

Soibi Max-Alalibo