HIV risk among 16,000 Kaduna children

The recent disclosure by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) that 6,000 newborns in Kaduna state are at risk of contracting HIV in 2019 if elimination of Mother-To-Child Transmission (eMTCT) of HIV interventions is not implemented is alarming.

The unpleasant situation calls for urgent measures with a view to forestalling its occurrence. Chief of Field Office, Zakari Adam, UNICEF Kaduna, made the assertion at a one-day meeting in Kaduna penultimate Monday.

The meeting was organised for the wives of local government chairmen in the state to give feedback on the level of implementation of 2018 demand creation activities on eMTCT of HIV. Adam said that Kaduna state was one of the four states in the country being supported by UNICEF to pilot eMTCT by 2020 and end adolescent AIDs epidemic by 2030.

He said that though the state had recorded an increase in eMTCT coverage from 16 per cent in 2012 to 66 per cent in 2017, it was still challenged by low Antenatal Care (ANC) attendance and hospital delivery. He also said the state was equally battling with low awareness about the benefits of eMTCT and inadequate human resources for quality health services.

 “Currently, there are 6,000 babies at a risk of getting HIV infection in 2019 if appropriate and innovative eMTCT interventions are not fully implemented.

This meeting, therefore, provides an opportunity to lay bare all the eMTCT challenges with a view to taking proactive measures to tackle them,” he said. The Kaduna state Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Paul Dogo, said that the state had achieved a giant stride in reducing the prevalence of HIV in the state.

He said that HIV prevalence had reduced from 11.6 per cent in 1999 to 1.1 per cent in 2018, adding that the state had moved from prevention of mother to child transition of HIV to elimination.

 Mr Dogo said that the state government had taken all necessary measures to ensure the attainment of zero mother to child transmission by 2020.

“To achieve this, the state government had in 2012 established 126 eMTCT sites and currently we have 927 eMTCT sites. All we need is increase demand for such services, which is where the wives of the local government chairmen come in.

 “We need you to support the wife of the governor to create the needed awareness to our mothers in all LGAs to demand for HIV services which are readily available in health centres,” he said.

 The commissioner commended UNICEF and other development partners for supporting the state in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

He, however, noted that partners funding was decreasing, saying the need to increase domestic funding for HIV intervention to sustain the progress so far achieved.

 Marc Anthony, Executive Secretary, Kaduna State Agency for the Control of Aids, expressed optimism that the state would achieve zero new infection of HIV among newborn by 2020.

 “But to achieve this target, pregnant mothers in the state must be tested and provided with access to quality HIV services at zero cost.”

The wives of the local government chairmen reiterated commitment toward ensuring that no woman was left behind in the demanding for eMTCT services in their various domains.

They said during their presentation of the implementation of the 2018 LGA eMTCT plan that they would continue to mobilise pregnant women to go for ANC and demand for HIV services.

Wife of Kaduna State Governor, Ummi El-Rufai, appealed to the wives of the local government chairmen to redouble their effort to ensure that no child is infected with HIV.

It is unfortunate that despite the launch of the campaign, which kickstarted in Kaduna, Benue, the Federal Capital Territory and Lagos, to curb the spread of HIV amongst young people by the federal government in September last year, Kaduna state is still endangered by the scourge.

The campaign was part efforts by the federal government to tackle the rising rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV for which Nigeria accounting for 37,000 of the world’s 160,000 new cases of babies born with HIV in 2016.

This was at a time the rates have plummeted even in far poorer countries. The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria does have an exceptionally large HIV-infected population of 3.2 million people.

But South Africa, the hardest-hit country in the world, with 7.1 million people living with the virus, had only 12,000 newly infected children in 2016.

The high infection rate, along with the lack of access to ARVs – coverage is just 30% – helps explain why 24,000 children here died of AIDS in 2016, nearly three times as many as in South Africa. Consequently, we view the 2019 projection of HIV infection of a whooping 16,000 babies in Kaduna state as not only undesirable but also unacceptable and reprehensible.

We, therefore, call on the federal and Kaduna state governments to do everything possible to avert the looming disaster.

Major obstacles such as corruption in the health care delivery system and inadequate funding that had militated against the successful implementation of the HIV reduction awareness campaign should be tackled head-on.

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