2016 HIV National Guidelines Will Afford Treatment For PLWHA – Health Minister

The minister made this known at the North-West Zonal Dissemination of the Guidelines at Top Galaxy Hotel, Kaduna state during a two-day workshop for stakeholders.

Adewole, who was represented at the event by a director in the Ministry of Health and his special adviser on health, Mr. Araoye Seglola, explained that the Guidelines was the “culmination of an incredibly arduous journey that we embarked on since 2001 in our collective search for a stable and sustainably functional system for the delivery of HIV/AIDS services in Nigeria.” 

According to him, the ‘2016 Guidelines is by today’s standard, cutting edge. Its recommendations are audacious, unambiguous and unapologetically pro-patient.

“From this day hence everyone who tests positive to HIV is automatically eligible for treatment and this applies to everyone with equal emphasis, child, man and woman, pregnant or not.

“From today onward we are duty bound to offer antiretroviral drugs as prevention to all persons who are at a high risk of contracting HIV infection.

“From today forward all persons on treatment are entitled to at least one viral load test per year.

“From today hence we will place greater emphasis on differentiated systems of care that are adjustable to the individual needs of the patient.”

Adewole stressed that the Guidelines could not have come at a less critical moment as they will serve as the necessary catalyst for the attainment of the UNAIDS 90-90 initiative.

He said the Federal Government was grateful to the United States Government (USG)/PEPFAR, the United Nations, and other implementing partners for the milestones and the Management Sciences for Health (MSH) for hosting the meeting.

Speaking earlier, the National Coordinator of the National AIDS and STIs Control Programme, Dr. Sunday Aboje, said the meeting was important as health professionals and representatives of government to brainstorm on the task ahead.

While harping that “we have done remarkably well in achieving this objective with 900, 000 patients on treatment, improved and functional logistical systems for commodities management and highly skilled manpower for the management of HIV/AIDS,” he said there was the need to begin “to address our feficiences especially as it relates to increase cases of treatment failure, loss to follow-up, poor retention of patients in care, poor uptake of paediatric ART services and limited technical capacity to manage HIV in the more peripheral health facilities.”

The central theme of the 2016 Guidelines is “Test and Treat,” which is ART should be initiated for every HIV positive person regardless of age, gender, clinical stage of disease or CD4-cell count.