People living with HIV/AIDS, yesterday laid siege at
the entrance of the National Agency for the Control
of AIDS (NACA) Abuja, to protest what they described
as their poor condition of living, which they said,
has increased their mortality rate to 20,000 every
month.
Numbering over 100, the HIV positive persons
barricaded the entrance, stopping staff from entering
the headquarters of the NACA as early as 6 am,
yesterday.
The protesters who carried palm fronds and placards,
with some inscriptions, which read, "How many more
people will die of AIDS before government gives
attention,?" vowed to continue daily barricade of the
agency for at least 25 days.
The HIV positive persons under the aegis of the
Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
(NEPWHAN), which represents more than three
million people living with the virus, stood in the sun
and under sheds on NACA premises for most of
yesterday.
However, the officials of the NACA called the
barricade a "deliberate attempt to jeopardise" its
activities.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP, the public relations officer
of NEPWHAN, Samaila Garba, said the protest comes
on the heels of concerns that international agencies
have started reducing funding for HIV services in
Nigeria.
He said, "If they withdraw funding and we don't get
funding for our treatment, we are going to die,"
adding that the association was recording a high
number of people dying daily from AIDS related
complications due to lack of access to antiretroviral
drugs.
Garba added that some providers have stopped
registering new HIV positive persons for care, while
previous positive persons are having to pay for services
out of their pockets.
According to him, "From October 1, HIV patients
began paying N12,000 a year for laboratory tests at
an APIN-supported HIV clinic at University College
Hospital, Ibadan.
"This November, another APIN site where some 23,000
people seek treatment, began charging patients
N5,000 for registration, N2,000 for consultation,
N8,900 for laboratory evaluation, N2,900 for lab
followup, and N1,000 to pick up drugs
"The services have been free since 2006 when the
administration of former president Olusegun
Obasanjo rolled out sponsored antiretroviral
treatment for 250,000 people living with HIV."
"Since then countries with lesser HIV burden than
Nigeria--Kenya, Zambia, Togo, South Africa--have at
least doubled funding for HIV services."
"Donor agencies that have famously funded HIV
services in parts of the country, including the US
government, Global Fund and UNAIDS, have
variously said they expect Nigeria to up domestic
funding to provide treatment and services for people
living with HIV."
"Only 30% of all eligible for treatment have access to
antiretroviral drugs--all others are not registered for
any sort of treatment."
But the director general, NACA, Prof John Idoko,
admitted donors were "flatfunding"--keeping annual
donations to Nigeria at a steady level--but the static
funds have already impacted services in some tertiary
hospitals where HIV services are supported by AIDS
Prevention Initiative Nigeria (APIN).
He said that the federal government proposed plans
to register extra 600,000 adults and children for
antiretroviral treatment under the President's
Comprehensive Response Plan for HIV/AIDS, launched
when heads of governments of African
Commonwealth met in Abuja July last year.
PCRP also plans to provide HIV testing for 80 million
Nigerians, drugs for 244,000 pregnant women to stop
them passing HIV to their unborn children,
prevention services to 500.000 people considered most-
at-risk population, and open up 2000 new sites for
HIV treatment and another 2000 for prevention of
mother-to-child transmission of the virus.
According to Idoko, PCRP, to be bankrolled using
money from Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-
P), was estimated to cost N140 billion in the first year
alone, but only N8 billion was appropriated.
"As we speak, we have received only 20% [around
N1.6 billion]. We hope that we are going to receive
the rest," he said to protesters on Monday. "It is
important to recognize that no other government has
released this amount of money. I can assure you the
money that is going to be released is going to
transparently and accountably used."
PCRP problem is implementation, said Garba. "If we
allow the implementation to go wrong at this point,
the president's plan will be defeated by bureaucrats."
The network said PLWHA community was not
involved in NACA's decision to start implementing
PCRP to pay for treatment and lab tests for PLWHA in
Taraba and Abia states.
On protest placards, the network insisted it wanted
PCRP to cover all 36 states and the FCT. One placard
read "Nothing for us without us."
Idoko said PCRP treatment would eventually roll out
nationwide but was restricted to Abia and Taraba
yet because it was a "stopgap" to intervention from
the US government.
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