UNAIDS estimates Nigeria has one of highest burden of HIV in the world. Equally alarming statistics show only about 90-thousand people out of 180-million Nigerians have been tested for the virus.
UNAIDS also reports that about 70-percent of the nearly 40 million people around the world living with the HIV virus live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Health experts say if Nigeria is going to win the war against AIDS, it will have to increase funding. They say failure to act quickly will see the country experiencing dire consequences.
More notable is the prevention of mother to child transmission. Chances of non- infection in babies is high if they are put on treatment immediately and experts say there is some hope here in Nigeria.
The stigma and shame associated with AIDS however, is what has stagnated progress in the West African country. The reluctance of health officials to treat the infected and for the infected to come forward has been especially debilitating.
