Health - A newly-released report has shown that between 50,000 and 100,000 of the babies born in Nigeria annually yearly are HIV positive.
The report was presented by the National Steering Group (NSG) on “Global Plan towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections among Children by 2015 and Keeping their Mothers Alive” in the capital city of Abuja on Tuesday.
It said the government’s target would be to reduce the number of new HIV infection in children by at least 90 per cent, and reduce the number of AIDS-related maternal deaths by 50 percent.
According to the report, which was quoted by the local media Wednesday, while the current population of HIV positive persons in Nigeria stands at 3.1 million, the number of births in the country annually is six million.
It also said that while HIV prevalence remains 4.1 per cent, 229,480 pregnant women are HIV positive in the country annually.
The NSG was constituted by President Goodluck Jonathan in April 2012 to help mobilise national leadership for global plan on eliminating mother-to-child transmission, implementation and keeping their mothers alive.
Pana 13/03/2013