Etisalat Nigeria has joined hands with the Joint
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS to support the National Agency for the
Control of AIDS, in a campaign to ensure that no child in Nigeria is born with
HIV. The UNAIDS and Etisalat partnership sealed through a Memorandum of
Understanding signed today will allow the telecommunication company’s 21
million customers to benefit from regular text messages on how and where to
access prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services in Nigeria.
| L-R: Director General, National AIDS Control Agency (NACA), Prof. John Idoko; Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Ibrahim Dikko; and Country Director, The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), Dr. Bilali Camara at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum Of Understanding between Etisalat and UNAIDS to eliminate Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV in Nigeria, held at Etisalat Nigeria Corporate Office, Victoria Island on Wednesday, February 4th |
In July 2011, a global plan towards the elimination of
new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive was launched
at the United Nations general assembly high level meeting on AIDS in July 2011.
On its part, in November 2014, Nigeria unveiled the National Operational Plan
for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV 2015-2016 to
jump-start the implementation of similar efforts in the country.
It is against this backdrop that UNAIDS is partnering
with Etisalat Nigeria to support the National Agency for the Control of AIDS
(NACA), other government departments and the Civil Society to boost Nigeria’s
efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
| From left, Director General, National AIDS Control Agency (NACA), Prof. John Idoko; Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Ibrahim Dikko; CEO, Lagos State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Dr. Fausat Dabiri; Country Director, The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), Dr. Bilali Camara; and Director, Disease Control, Dr. Jemilade Longe at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum Of Understanding between Etisalat and UNAIDS to eliminate Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV in Nigeria, held at Etisalat Nigeria Corporate Office, Victoria Island on Wednesday, February 4th |
Vice President, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs,
Etisalat Nigeria, Ibrahim Dikko said, “We
are happy to partner with UNAIDS and NACA for this unique cause. We recognize
that a nation can only be economically buoyant if it has a healthy population.
This we are committed to building, by attacking its most deadly threats, one of
which is HIV/AIDS. We are joining hands with these strategic and effective
organisations, and together we will drive the promotion of life and health, for
Nigerians in general, persons living with HIV, children yet unborn.”
“This initiative is bound to avail more avenues of
stopping new HIV infections in Nigeria. We welcome this new impetus Etisalat is
bringing to the HIV response in Nigeria.” said Prof. John Idoko, Director
General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS
Dr. Bilali Camara, UNAIDS Country Director for Nigeria
and the UNAIDS focal point for the ECOWAS concluded that, “Ending the HIV epidemic among children in
Nigeria by 2020 will result in preventing 240,000 new HIV infections among
children and an additional 460,000 new HIV infections among adults. In all, we
are looking at preventing 340,000 AIDS-related deaths and a net benefit of 30
billion United States dollars, with 12 million life-years gained.”
In 2013, Nigeria represented 30 per cent of the burden
of mother-to-child transmission of HIV globally, although new scientific
evidence indicates the target to have zero new HIV infections among children is
achievable.
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