Access to HIV prevention tools remains huge challenge in Nigeria – NGO

An NGO, New HIV Vaccine and Microbicides Advocacy Society (NHVMAS), says access to HIV prevention commodities such as the oral Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) has remained major challenge in the prevention of virus.
 
Its Coordinator, Ms Florita Durueke, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
 
According to her, PrEP is a HIV drug taken by HIV negative people daily to protect them from acquiring HIV infection from a positive partner.
 
“Global research efforts have continued to expand the choices of tools for HIV prevention.
 
“PrEP can be taken by people at substantial risk of HIV infection such as serodiscordant couples, that is, partners where one person is HIV positive and the other is negative.
 
“Also, sex workers people who inject drugs and at risk adolescents.
 
“There is limited access to PrEP in our prevention programme; vulnerable population at high risk of HIV infections cannot freely access PrEP in our health facilities.
 
“While efforts are being made to develop the operational guidelines for PrEP access, we must translate such policy to actions where at risk persons can walk into a facility and be able to access PrPE services, ” she said.
 
The coordinator said that NHVMAS was working to ensure that Nigerians have access to affordable and accessible HIV prevention tools.
 
“To this end, we have engaged with the government to advocate for the integration of proven HIV tools like PrEP in our national prevention response.
 
“Although, we have made tremendous progress in this direction, we are still advocating,  ensuring the tools are in the hands of those who need it,” Durueke said.
 
She also said that the organisation had placed the Adolescents and Young People (AYP) at the centre of HIV prevention programme, recognising that HIV incidence among young people aged 20 to 24 years was on the increase.
 
The coordinator said this implied scaling up investment on adolescents and young people HIV prevention programme in the country.
 
“NHVMAS rolled out annual ‘Leaving no Nigerian Behind Champions Mentorship’ programme.
 
“The programme engages adolescents and young people through structured training and mentorship that empowers them as agent of change.
 
“Also, the programme builds HIV knowledge among the AYP and supporting them to take up HIV prevention services.
 
“NHVMAS has extensive programme with journalists with the goal of building public knowledge and understanding on HIV and biomedical HIV prevention tools, ” Durueke said. (NAN)
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