Experts’ evaluation of new HIV infections from mother to child in Oyo State indicated that the number of women that tested positive for HIV has dropped from 2.28 per cent to 1.4 per cent over a five year period.
Dr Olubunmi Ayinde, Oyo State HIV desk officer presented the findings of this study which evaluated Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMCTC) services in Oyo State between 2012 and 2016.
It was at the 2019 doctor’s update course on HIV Prevention and Treatment Research, organised by The Infectious Disease Group, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, in conjunction with the New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society (NHVMAS).
Dr Ayinde said within the period, women for antenatal services tested for HIV in the state rose from 55,666 to 104, 551, even as the chances of pregnant women getting tested for HIV went up to 86.6 per cent.
She said, “We see the number of women placed on treatment increase as the years went by across the state. HIV positive women placed on treatment increased from 67 per cent in 2012 to 83.73 per cent in 2016.
“The number of HIV exposed infants placed on antiretroviral (ARV) drugs increased significantly from 26 per cent to 52 per cent; this increase is influenced by the number of HIV positive women receiving ARV drugs.”
Co-chair, National HIV/AIDS Research Reference Group, National Agency for Control of AIDS (NACA), Professor Gbenga Sunmola, said conducting appropriate research on gaps in Nigeria’s HIV prevention and treatment interventions was vital to combat the infection in Nigeria.
According to Professor Sunmola, Nigerian researchers need to help develop HIV vaccine or cure, come up with solutions to increase coverage of PMCTC, and as well as tackle the triple burden of high HIV burden particular in seven states in Nigeria, low treatment coverage and slow the decline of new HIV infections.
Professor Sunmola said Nigeria had a research agenda drawn for HIV and urged researchers to align with its focus.
UCH’s infectious Disease Group representative, Professor Regina Oladokun stated that doctors’ involvement in research into HIV and its treatment is vital in the fight against HIV in Nigeria.
Professor Oladokun, noting that the training was to update them on the latest on HIV, declared that “they need the information to treat patients; they also need to carry out research.”
She said since HIV could affect every part of the body, even dentists were not exempted from the training, which saw doctors from states like Lagos, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja participants.
NHVMAS‘s coordinator, Professor Morenike Ukpong-Folayan said it was expected that the update meeting would gear people to doing research to address existing gaps and provide pieces of evidence to inform policies and programmes in the field of HIV/AIDS.