160,000 Nigerian Teenagers are HIV Postive – National Agency for the Control of AIDS

A report presented by Ms Victoria Isiramen of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), has revealed that about 160,000 Nigerian adolescents are infected with the HIV virus while 11,000 have died from the epidemic.

Making a presentation entitled, “All In! Ending The Epidemic Among Adolescents,” at a workshop on Making Media and People Living With HIV Champions of the Ambitious 90-90-90 Target by 2020, yesterday in Abuja, she said adolescents contribute 70 per cent of AIDS deaths globally, while in Nigeria, adolescents contribute 8 per cent of HIV deaths.

She noted that there are 80 per cent of new infections among adolescents globally, and that HIV is now the second largest contributor to adolescent mortality globally and number one in Africa.

Isiramen noted, “Adolescents are the ones to work with in any new programme, including stemming the tide of HIV infection in Nigeria.”

She added that the workshop was a fast-tracked HIV response to adolescents.

Source: leadership

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