HIV : Nigeria records 210,000 deaths over poor ARV access – PSN

This year’s World AIDS Day celebration in the country was with a mixed feeling as statistics showed that there are still 2.9 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria that lack access to treatment, despite campaigns and other efforts by various agencies, both international and local ones to reduce infection and eliminate the disease. According to experts 3.4 million people were diagnosed of HIV last year, out of which 2.9 million are not receiving the treatment needed to suppress the disease. These carriers, who are currently living in hiding, are not only at risk of death from HIV related illnesses, they are also infecting new people, causing a surge of the disease. Although HIV prevalence in the country remains low at 3.2 per cent, approximately 210,000 Nigerians died from AIDS – related illnesses in 2013 even as 220,000 new HIV infections were recorded. The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) which made the revelation in a statement to mark this year’s World AIDS Day attri