Survey Shows Kaduna HIV Prevalence Drops To 0.6%
NIGERIA –
HIV Prevalence in Kaduna has dropped to 0.6 percent, findings of the Kaduna State AIDS Indicator Survey (KADAIS) has revealed.
National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey-Plus (NARHS-Plus 2012), had placed Kaduna in third highest position after Rivers and Taraba with about 9.2 prevalence rate.
KADAIS is the first state household-based HIV/AIDS survey conducted in Nigeria.
Report of the findings was formally made available on December 1st, 2018, by the State Ministry of Health and Human Services and Kaduna State Agency for the Control of AIDS (KADSACA), as part of activities to commemorate the World AIDS day in the state.
According to the report, KADAIS was conducted in all 23 Local Government Areas in Kaduna State from January through April 2017. Trained survey staff collected information about HIV knowledge and risk and offered home-based HIV counseling and testing with immediate return of results.
Additional laboratory tests like CD4 count and viral load, were conducted to further characterize the HIV epidemic in adults and children and results were provided as soon as they were available. The survey had a response rate of 93.9 percent among those interviewed and 97.9 percent among those tested for HIV.
The report states that, prevalence of HIV infection among children ages 0-14 years was 0.1 percent and prevalence among people ages 15 years and older was 1.1 percent (0.7 percent among males and 1.4 percent among females).
“KADAIS assessed the unmet need for HIV services, critical to achieving the UNAIDS 90-90-90 treatment target in Kaduna State. The 90-90-90 treatment target cascade is a call to meet the following targets: 90 percent of PLHIV know their status, 90 percent of PLHIV who know their HIV status receive sustained antiretroviral therapy (ART) and 90% of PLHIV receiving ART will have viral suppression. (Viral load suppression is defined as having less than 1,000 HIV RNA copies per ml of plasma among HIV-positive adults).”
Findings from KADAIS show 34 percent of PLHIV knew their status before the survey, 95 percent of PLHIV who knew their status received ART and 84% of those on ART had viral suppression.
Executive Secretary KADSACA, Dr. Mark Anthony, in a brief remark at the presentation, said, ‘’two out of three people with HIV do not know their HIV-positive status. It is important that people know their status.
Commenting on the outcome of the survey, Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Paul Dogo noted that, ’KADAIS data offer critical evidence to inform Kaduna State HIV programmes and investments for progress to be sustained and built upon.
The survey was funded by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with the Kaduna State Government and other partners.