Source: Leadership Newspapers
While some West-African countries are still battling the scourge of the Ebola virus and Nigeria is still basking in the euphoria of winning the war against the virus, HIV/AIDS still remains a major health pandemic insidiously affecting children, youths and women in our country; dangerously reaching epidemic proportions.

1st December was Worlds AIDS Day. Every year, this day is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection, and mourning those who have died of the disease. World AIDS Day is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV.

Government and health officials, non-governmental organizations and individuals around the world observe the day, often with education on AIDS prevention and control. An estimated 34 million people have HIV/AIDS worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa has the most people living with HIV in the world and 70% of all new HIV infections occur there. In 2013, there were an estimated 24.7 million cases in the region, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). As of 2013, AIDS has killed more than 36 million people worldwide (1981-2012), and an estimated 35.3 million people are living with the virus, making it one of the most important global public health issues in recorded history.

Despite recent improved access to antiretroviral treatment in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic still claims an estimated 2 million lives each year, of which about 270,000 are children. While there is no known cure for HIV, antiretroviral drugs (ART) have helped people live longer with the virus.

Nigeria currently has the second-largest number of people living with HIV worldwide, second only to South Africa. Youths and young adults in Nigeria are particularly vulnerable to HIV, with young women at higher risk than young men. In Nigeria, there are many risk factors that contribute to the spread of HIV, including prostitution, high-risk practices among itinerant workers, high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI), international trafficking of women, and irregular blood screening. However, the challenges many HIV positive persons in Nigeria face has been the contributory factors that has not enabled us halt the spread of the virus.

Amongst such factors is the issue of stigmatization and discrimination, which consequently leads to the ostracization of people living with the virus. Via first-hand accounts from people living with the virus, they lament being discriminated upon by being thrown out of their matrimonial homes by their husbands and relatives, traders amongst them have their goods and wares avoided in market places, neither buying or even mingling with them, avoiding going to clinics and health-care centers for fear of being recognized by someone they know. Tackling the twin factors of stigmatization and discrimination is undoubtedly crucial to halting the spread and eventually eliminating the disease in the country.

While people living with the disease are being encouraged to come out and declare their status, and those who are yet to undergo screening are advised to do so in a bid to halt its spread, the society has continued to discriminate against them. Stemming this tide would require a concise law in place, protecting the rights of all people living with HIV/AIDS. Mirthfully and proactively, the National Assembly has passed the anti-stigma and anti-discrimination bill against people living with the virus; hitherto however, the President is yet to assent to it.

Another major challenge people living with the virus face is the lack of availability and accessibility of anti-retroviral drugs. Anti-retroviral drugs prevent the multiplication of the HIV virus in the system; while this gives the immune system the opportunity to rebuild itself. A rebuilt immune system is able to ward off the legion of opportunistic infection that comes with being HIV positive. With the advancement in treatment, it is now possible for HIV positive individuals to live prolonged, normal and productive lives. The introduction of anti retroviral drugs has dramatically reduced mortality from AIDS world-wide.

However, in our clime, one of the most significant barriers to accessing the drugs is the price of the drugs.

A research by the WHO states that in countries like Nigeria, high prices condemn people with AIDS to a premature death. Albeit the federal government and some Non-Governmental Organizations have commenced the free treatment and doling out of anti-retrovirals to people living with the virus, there have been accounts by HIV positive persons that these drugs end up being sold to them at exorbitant prices. Also, in most health-care facilities in the country, there is the absence of basic drugs needed to treat HIV-related infections.

Such ill-equipped health-care facilities is also lacking in quality diagnosis, accurate prescriptions and the dispensing of medicines to HIV-related infections and conditions. A federal government policy or initiative, devoid of corruption and corrupt practices, whereby people living with HIV are given free treatment and drugs would certainly provide respite for the estimated half a million people, majority of whom are poverty stricken, desperately in need of treatment in the country.

As we mark World AIDS Day, an innovation which I am particularly gleeful about and dear to my heart is the prevention of Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). In the not too distant past, this innovation was non-existent. Sadly, many HIV positive pregnant women automatically passed on the virus to their children during child birth; however, contemporarily, this is no more the case. MTCT is when an HIV-positive mother passes the virus to her child during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding. Each year around 1.5 million women living with HIV become pregnant, and without antiretroviral drugs, there is a 15 to 45 percent chance that their child will also become infected.

In Nigeria presently, this innovation is widely practiced, but MTCT has not been completely eliminated. In other developed climes, MTCT has been almost completely eliminated as a result of effective voluntary testing and counseling services, access to antiretroviral therapy, safe delivery practices, and the widespread availability and safe use of breast-milk substitutes.

If these interventions can be made available and accessible to pregnant women in Nigeria, undoubtedly thousands of children would be prevented from becoming infected with HIV each year.

Preventing MTCT would involve certain measures: firstly, when a HIV positive pregnant woman takes a regimen of ARVs for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, the risk of HIV transmission can be reduced drastically. Secondly, keeping women of reproductive age and their partners HIV-negative through reproductive health and HIV prevention services will also reduce transmission to the child.

Thirdly, avoid unwanted pregnancies among HIV-infected women and women at risk of HIV through family planning and HIV testing and counseling services. Fourthly, ensure better integration of HIV care, treatment and support for HIV-infected women and their families. Lastly, ensure HIV testing of pregnant women and timely access to effective antiretroviral therapy.