United States Mission in Nigeria has said approximately 7.4 million Nigerians have received HIV counseling and testing services under the U.S. Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Fiscal Year 2018.
In a statement emailed to Apex News Friday from the United States Embassy in Abuja, PEPFAR provided life-saving HIV treatment to over 800,000 Nigerian men, women and children living with HIV.
It also said more than 1.6 million pregnant Nigerian women were tested for HIV and more than 1.2 million orphans and vulnerable children in Nigeria received care.
The statement also explained that additionally, PEPFAR supported Nigeria in the critical areas of policy development, human capacity development, and overarching health systems strengthening, including provision of state-of-the-art laboratories.
It also helped pharmaceutical warehouses, enhancing Nigeria’s health systems to tackle not only HIV/AIDS, but a host of other diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and vaccine preventable diseases.
2018 marked the 15th anniversary since PEPFAR’s establishment with strong bipartisan support across three U.S. Presidents and eight U.S. congresses, and working with our many partners around the globe.
The United States has invested more than $80 billion in the global HIV/AIDS response and saved more than 17 million lives, prevented millions of new HIV infections, transformed the global HIV/AIDS response, and created the roadmap to controlling this pandemic while countries continue to contribute more and more to their response.
It pointed out that in Nigeria alone, the U.S. has invested more than $5billion in the national HIV/AIDS response.
Reports show that many of the 53 countries supported by PEPFAR can achieve epidemic control by 2020 if they accelerate their efforts and focus resources and policies to ensure access to HIV prevention and treatment services for those most in need.
Fifteen years ago, when PEPFAR began, it noted, HIV was a death sentence in many parts of the world, thanks to the lifesaving efforts of PEPFAR and its partners, it helped make the world a more secure place.
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