HIV AND AIDS IN NIGERIA

UNAIDS estimates that in Nigeria, around 3.1 percent of adults between ages 15-49 are living with HIV and AIDS. Although the HIV prevalence is much lower in Nigeria than in other African countries such as South Africa and Zambia, the size of Nigeria’s population (around 138 million) meant that by the end of 2007, there were an estimated 2,600,000 people infected with HIV.1




Approximately 170,000 people died from AIDS in 2007 alone2. With AIDS claiming so many people's lives, Nigeria’s life expectancy has declined. In 1991 the average life expectancy was 53.8 years for women and 52.6 years for men3. In 2007 these figures had fallen to 46 for women and 47 for men.



Despite being the largest oil producer in Africa and the 12th largest in the world4, Nigeria is ranked 158 out of 177 on the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Poverty Index5. This poor economic position has meant that Nigeria is faced with huge challenges in fighting its HIV/AIDS epidemic.



The history of HIV and AIDS in Nigeria

The first two HIV cases in Nigeria were identified in 1985 and were reported at an international AIDS conference in 19866. In 1987 the Nigerian health sector established the National AIDS Advisory Committee, which was shortly followed by the establishment of the National Expert Advisory Committee on AIDS (NEACA).



At first the Nigerian government was slow to respond to the increasing rates of HIV transmission7 and it was only in 1991 that the Federal Ministry of Health made their first attempt to assess the Nigerian HIV/AIDS situation. The results showed that around 1.8 percent of the population of Nigeria were infected with HIV. Subsequent surveillance reports revealed that during the 1990s the HIV prevalence rose from 3.8% in 1993 to 4.5% in 19988.



A poster encouraging sexual abstinence in Nigeria

When Olusegun Obasanjo became the president of Nigeria in 1999, HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care became one of the government’s primary concerns. The President’s Committee on AIDS and the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA) were created, and in 2001, the government set up a three-year HIV/AIDS Emergency Action Plan (HEAP). In the same year, Obasanjo hosted the Organisation of African Unity’s first African Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Other Related Infectious Diseases9.



Despite these positive intentions for tackling the epidemic, in 2006 it was estimated that just 10 percent of HIV-infected women and men were receiving antiretroviral therapy and only 7 percent of pregnant women were receiving treatment to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV10.