Nigeria: Enugu Has Suppressed 98 Percent HIV Viral Infection – Caritas Nigeria

A Humanitarian and Development agency, the Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria has disclosed that above the United Nations, UN target, 98 percent of identified persons living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV, in Enugu state have been virally suppressed from transmission of the disease.

This is as the state government further disclosed that as a testament to its relentless efforts in prevention, treatment, and care, it has made significant strides in the battle against HIV/AIDS, with the prevalence of HIV in the state reduced from 5.1 percent in 2010 to 2.1percent, currently.

These disclosures were made, respectively, by the Caritas Nigeria Team Lead in Enugu state, Dr. Fabian Bassey; and the state commissioner for Health, Prof Ike Obi, during the 2024 World AIDS day that was commemorated in the state on Tuesday.

According to Dr. Bassey, Caritas Nigeria has been able to improve on the number of patients receiving treatment in the state because it has been able to test more people, identify the persons living with HIV AIDS and placed them on treatment.

Bassey stated that as a leading Partner in the state, it has been able to work with relevant agencies such as Enugu State Agency for the Control of AIDS, ENSACA, the Ministry of Health and other Non-government organizations to sensitize people and was able to create more awareness on HIV AIDS, especially in the areas of prevention, testing for people to know their status, treatment and care.

He noted that the World AIDS Day is a day that the world stands by those who are affected by HIV AIDS and an opportunity for Caritas Nigeria to remember those that have died and also to be able to take care of those who are still alive.

“In Enugu state, as of 2017 when Caritas Nigeria came to the state, we had about 18,000 persons that were actively on treatment, but today we have about 50,000 patients. We have also significantly improved the number of Children from about 200 children that were receiving treatment to over 3,000 children.”

On reduction in the number of persons affected by HIV AIDS, Bassey said that there is the UN target of 95-95, which means that it has to ensure that 95 percent of people living in Enugu know their status, because if they don’t know their status, they won’t be able to identify those that are positive.

“So, if 95 percent of those living in Enugu know their status, then, we will be able to identify more cases and if we identify these cases, in the 95 percent of the cases identified, it is our responsibility to ensure that they are on treatment.

“We are talking about ending AIDS in 2030, which is a global goal, our responsibility now is to ensure that for all those placed on treatment, 95 percent of them remain on treatment and are virally suppressed, which means that at that point they won’t be able to transmit to other persons.

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“For Enugu state, our viral suppression rate is at 98 percent which is even above the UN target of 95 percent and we are hoping and working with other relevant NGOs and government agencies to sustain these gains. When we make these gains and sustain them, then we can talk about reduction, that means that less persons will be affected because a lot of persons know their status and they are on treatment and are virally suppressed, which means that even when they have sexual contact with other persons they will also not be affected.

“Let’s try as human beings to know our status because if we don’t identify who we are, we won’t be able to identify what the problem is. So let’s know our status by going for HIV testing today which is highly confidential,” Bassey advocated.

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