A total of 1,619,133 Nigerians living with HIV are now on treatment, Director-General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Gambo Aliyu, has said.

He disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday during a news briefing organised by the agency ahead of the World AIDS Day.

He said, “As at the end of September 2022 we have 1,619,133 persons on treatment, which represents a significant leap when compared to 838,020 persons in 2017.”

He said treatment sites in the country had increased from 251 in 2007 to 2,262 in 2020.

He said new HIV infections gradually declined from 103,404 in 2019 to 92,323 in 2021, noting that there wass significant growth in key population treatment centres, rising from 10 in 2017 with a coverage of 16,147 to 118 in 2021 with coverage of over 221,010. 

Health Minister, Osagie Ehanire, said the theme for this year’s World AIDS Day commemoration, ‘Equalise to End AIDS: Equal Access to Treatment & Prevention Services’ was a  call for renewed commitment to achieving epidemic control, and further our actions towards ending AIDS by 2030.  

Represented by National Coordinator, National AIDS, STI and Hepatitis Control Programme of the Ministry of Health, Akudo Ikpeazu, he said Nigeria was moving closer to her targets.