Nigeria

Participants at the meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria, 4-5 July 2013.

Representatives of more than 100 civil society organizations (CSO) from 42 countries urged African leaders to intensify efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. The call was made during a technical meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria from 4-5 July as part of the events leading up to the Abuja +12 Special Summit of the Africa Union on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria that will take place in the Nigerian capital from 15-16 July 2013.

The meeting aimed to assess progress made in the implementation of the 2001 Abuja Declaration. It also provided an opportunity to discuss key issues in the post-2015 debate.

CSO representatives requested governments to make HIV prevention the cornerstone of AIDS responses in order to meet the targets set during the 2011 United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS. CSO representatives, in a call action, also asked governments to “pay special attention to the impact of HIV issues affecting children, adolescents and women and girls.” Additional recommendations included accelerating integration of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria services; achieving full funding of health budgets; and adding per capita health expenditure tracking to the 15% Abuja financial commitments.

The recommendations from the civil society meeting were reviewed at an experts meeting held from 8-9 July, and will be put forward for consideration by the Heads of States during the Special Summit.

On 27 July, under the leadership of the Nigerian president Jonathan Goodluck, several head of states and experts advocated in Abuja, Nigeria, to end gender based violence and inequality during the 2nd high level meeting of the Global Power Women Network Africa.

UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé joined the high-level delegation along with the Malawi President, Joyce Banda, the Liberian head of state Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Chair of the African Union Commission, H.E. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and H.E. Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan

Participants shared strategies, policies and effective practices for accelerating the implementation of global and regional commitments for women and girls, gender equality and HIV in Africa. They also discussed priorities for inclusion in the post-2015 sustainable development framework.

The GlobalPower Africa is a network of African women seeking to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment focusing on the vulnerability of girls and young women. The GlobalPOWER Africa promotes discussion for accelerated action towards the empowerment of women and gender equality in the area of HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa.

Front L to R: U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and Nigeria’s First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan.

Preventing new HIV infections among children and saving mothers’ lives were high on the agenda in a two-day mission to Nigeria by Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director, and Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. The visit occurred nearly one year after world leaders—including Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr Sidibé and Ambassador Goosby—launched The Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive.

Each year, nearly 400 000 children are born with HIV globally. Nigeria carries about one third of the global burden of new HIV infections among children. It is one of 22 priority countries of The Global Plan which, combined, account for nearly 90% of all new HIV infections among children annually.

During the mission, Ambassador Goosby and Mr Sidibé met with Nigeria’s First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan, who leads the country’s prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) acceleration strategy, to identify bottlenecks to PMTCT scale up at both the national level and in priority states. Discussions with the First Lady centered on how to optimize and increase all available resources for PMTCT in the country. 

“I will remain steady in my resolve to continue to provide the necessary leadership and support to achieve our national target of eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV in Nigeria,” said the First Lady.

The First Lady also thanked the participants of the mission for their commitment to assisting Nigeria in the critical area of health development, which is a key element of President Jonathan’s “Transformation Agenda.”

“There are no longer technical or scientific barriers preventing us from eliminating the transmission of HIV from mother to child,” said Ambassador Goosby, who heads the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). “Working together, we will address head-on the challenges to achieving elimination in Nigeria and identify the most effective way forward.  Preventing new HIV infections in children is a smart investment that saves lives and gives them a healthy start in life.”

In meetings with leaders from private sector and civil society, including the interfaith community, Ambassador Goosby and Mr Sidibé stressed the importance of working in partnership to accelerate progress in the AIDS response. The delegation also met with members of the Nigerian National Steering Group of The Global Plan, which was launched earlier this month to accelerate and coordinate action on PMTCT by all partners in the country.

While calling for greater global solidarity in the AIDS response, Mr Sidibé also emphasized that country ownership would be essential to accelerate national action around PMTCT. “Our twin goals of zero new HIV infections among children and eliminating AIDS-related maternal deaths can only succeed if countries mobilize the required resources and political will,” he said.

According to government figures, an estimated 16% of pregnant women living with HIV in Nigeria received antiretroviral medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in 2011. There are approximately 3.5 million people living with HIV in Nigeria.

In May 2012, an annual Global Plan progress review will be held on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva. Ministers of Health from the 22 priority countries identified in The Global Plan will convene to assess gains made in the first year of the plan’s implementation and to chart a course for continued progress.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby met with State governors during their visit to Nigeria. 24 April 2012.
Credit: UNAIDS/P.Ekpei

In a round-table discussion on Tuesday, high-level representatives from six Nigerian states committed to working with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to eliminate new HIV infections in children. The meeting came at the start of a joint two-day mission to Abuja by UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Sidibé and Ambassador Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

The six Nigerian states represented at the discussion were among the priority states identified for urgent implementation of a national scale-up plan to eliminate new HIV infections among children.

“Even though policies are formed at the national level, only if you assume leadership can new HIV infections among infants be eliminated in your states,” said Mr Sidibé, addressing the Governors of Kano, Benue and Nasarawa States as well as the Deputy Governors of Cross River, Akwa-ibom and River States.

Nigeria carries about one third of the global burden of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. It is one of 22 priority countries of The Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive—a roadmap to ending new HIV infections among children worldwide by 2015.

During the meeting, Mr Sidibé saluted Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan for participating in the launch of The Global Plan last June at the United Nations in New York. Together with Ambassador Goosby, he suggested that a few key Nigerian states, in close collaboration with UNAIDS and PEPFAR, could step up efforts to end mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Ambassador Goosby acknowledged the importance of the gathering. “These governors recognize the importance of addressing paediatric infections in their respective states. Their leadership will not only help Nigeria reduce the number of infants from being infected by HIV, but it will help advance the overall goals of The Global Plan,” he said.

Benue State in north-central Nigeria has an HIV prevalence of 10.6%—the highest of any state in the country. Calling himself a strong advocate for ending HIV, Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam said that he often takes HIV tests to encourage others to go for testing.

Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, said his State has an agency that supervises the care of people living with HIV and is ready to cooperate with efforts to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission.

The discussion ended with a call by Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to create an event that would shine a spotlight on HIV and ensure that the issue came to the forefront once again in Nigeria.

During the joint mission in Nigeria, Mr Sidibé, Ambassador Goosby and other participants in the delegation—including Peter McDermott of the Children’s Investment Fund, Anil Soni of Business Leadership Council and other members of the steering group for The Global Plan—will meet with high-level government officials, business leaders, and representatives from civil society and the inter-faith community. They will also commemorate victims of last year’s bomb attack on UN House in Abuja.

A global consensus is emerging that accelerated progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and more efficient use of resources can be achieved by taking the AIDS response out of isolation and integrating it with efforts to achieve other health and development goals.

On 22 September, the last day of the UN MDG Summit in New York, UNAIDS will co-host the event ‘AIDS plus MDGs: Delivering results towards our shared commitments’ together with the Governments of China, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa. 

Premier Wen Jiabao of China and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia will be joined by Nigeria’s and South Africa’s Ministers of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu and Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, respectively, to generate political commitment to leverage the AIDS response to achieve the MDGs. Representing the United Nations will be UN Deputy Secretary-General Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan, and UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé, who will chair the event.

“World leaders and UNAIDS are joining together to give the message that we must invest strategically to address multiple MDGs,” said Mr Sidibé. “Releasing the power, capacity and innovation of the AIDS movement may provide one of the best opportunities to ‘do the MDGs’ differently.”

The relationship between AIDS and the MDGs is reciprocal: investments in the AIDS repose advance all the MDGs and efforts to meet the eight Goals address the social drivers of the HIV epidemic. To find out more about AIDS and the MDG, read the UNAIDS report AIDS plus MDGs: synergies that serve people, a report prepared by the Government of Ethiopia and a UNAIDS case study on Rwanda.

Lucy (standing) addresses the former First Lady of Nigeria Mrs. Turai Yar Adua during an advocacy visit by the Nigeria Task Team on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Lucy Attah has high hopes for this week’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit. As a woman living with HIV and a gender activist from Nigeria, she believes the summit is an important opportunity to discuss issues of women’s equality and empowerment as well as achieving universal access to HIV services. Participating the summit means that she can share her experiences of helping to strengthen the AIDS response in her country.

As Executive Director of Women and Children of Hope (WCH), a Nigerian NGO, Ms Attah works to raise awareness about HIV. WCH also helps women living with the virus provide for their own material, physical and psychological well-being. 

Ms Attah is member of a delegation of 13 representing networks of women living with HIV from all regions of the world.  The delegation’ activities are part of a UNDP-supported global advocacy and capacity building initiative, which seeks to increase the visibility and voice of women living with HIV in the assessment of country progress toward achieving the MDGs and universal access. The initiative is also a component of the UNAIDS Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV.

“Attending the summit is an opportunity for me to share the lessons and challenges of women’s empowerment and emancipation in our communities with the outside world.” says Ms Attah. “I will also use the lessons learned from success stories and best practices in other countries.”

WCH was formed by Ms Attah after testing positive for HIV in 1998. She was determined to address the prevailing stigma and discrimination which made her own life extremely difficult and which are still major barriers to the HIV response in the country. 

Significant progress has been made in reducing HIV prevalence in Nigeria. However, with more than 3% of adults—an estimated 2.6 million—living with the virus, only South Africa has a higher total number of people living with HIV. Women often bear the brunt of the epidemic and represent more than half of people living with HIV, 1.4 million women.

There are many reasons for women’s increased vulnerability to HIV infection.  Significant gender inequalities exist and women often find it difficult to protect themselves from HIV, particularly when they lack decision-making power. Levels of sexual violence are considered high and early marriage is common. Women tend to lack economic independence and those living in poverty often engage in sex work to make ends meet. 

Despite these obstacles Ms Attah is optimistic about attaining the MDGs.

“We still have some way to go but we can do it if women become more involved in public policy and decision-making, more economically empowered and better educated," she said. “And if there is stronger legislation against the abuse of women’s rights and gender-based violence. Our goals are ambitious but we can get there.”

(from left) UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé greets Acting President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan while Ambassador Eric Goosby, United States Global Coordinator on AIDS looks on. Presidential Villa, Abuja, Nigeria. 22 February 2010
Credit: UNAIDS

There are nearly three million people living with HIV in Nigeria. After South Africa, the country has the largest number of people living with HIV in the continent. Each day there are about 1000 new infections. National HIV prevalence is around 4.6%. But these figures mask the multiple epidemics in the various states of the country. Many of the people living with HIV are poor. Add to this stigma and discrimination.

Acting President Dr Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria knows this first hand. In his past role as Governor of Bayelsa state, he pioneered cash transfer of 10,000 Naira (around US$ 70) per month for each person living with HIV to meet their nutrition needs. He also hoped that this would also lead to greater awareness about HIV and contribute to reducing the stigma faced by people living with HIV in the community.

“I feel that nobody should die of AIDS,” said the Acting President Jonathan in a meeting with the Mr Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director and Ambassador Eric Goosby, United States Global Coordinator on AIDS at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Nigeria today. “HIV is fast becoming a disease of poverty and we must take a developmental approach to address the issue.”

(from left) Nigeria’s Health Minister Professor Babatunde Osotimehin in discussion with UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé. 22 February 2010, Nigeria.
Credit: UNAIDS

Commending the Acting President for his progressive policies on AIDS, Mr Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director said, “ Nigeria must take the lead in setting the regional and African Union agenda in eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV by 2015. Without Nigeria’s leadership, this goal will not be met in the African continent.”

Echoing the similar sentiments Ambassador Eric Goosby called for new strategic thinking on how to get ahead. “Programmes to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV will need to be owned and sustained locally,” said Ambassador Goosby.

Mr Sidibé and Ambassador Goosby are on a joint visit to Nigeria during which they also met with Health Minister Professor Babatunde Osotimehin. The health minister commended UNAIDS for mobilizing the participation of non-governmental organizations, faith-based entities and the private sector to support the national AIDS response. “This has helped us gain momentum in rolling out access to services,” said Professor Babtunde. “We still have challenges. We are aware that resources are limited, but we must meet the expectations of the people we have mobilized.”

(from left) Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Patrick Yakowa; UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé; and Kaduna State Governor, Arc. Muhammed Namadi Sambo. 22 February 2010, Nigeria.
Credit: UNAIDS

Before his meetings in Abuja, Mr Sidibe also visited the Kaduna state, where adult HIV prevalence is around 7%. While in Kaduna he called on the Governor of the state, Mr Namadi Mohammed Sambo. Kaduna is on the verge of eliminating polio, the Governor proudly announced at the meeting attended by senior state officials. “We must now show similar dedication in reaching the universal access goals in Kaduna,” said Governor Sambo. “However we need continued technical and financial support to scale up access to services.”

Nigeria has only 30% of the resources available to meet the needs of the national AIDS response. The global economic downturn has had a negative impact on the resources available at the national and state level. Only 15% of spending on AIDS in the country comes from the domestic sources. But this has not stopped them from pursuing a dynamic agenda. A new national strategic framework on HIV is being prepared, that will aim to catch up on its universal access targets. Making most of the money available is one of the top priorities for the National Agency for the control of AIDS (NACA). It has begun to take the lead in coordinating the divergent sources of support the country receives and channel them towards people most in need. “Management of all resources—external and internal is very crucial to make a difference,” said Acting President Goodluck Jonathan.

(from left) United States Ambassador to Nigeria Robin Renèe Sanders; Ambassador Eric Goosby, United States Global Coordinator on AIDS; and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé.
Credit: UNAIDS

At the same time Nigeria has to start a policy dialogue to explore alternate approaches for promoting universal access that is sustainable. “One approach would be to democratise problem solving,” said Mr Sidibé. “This would give communities and people a chance to prioritise and hold themselves accountable.” The country is now applying the lessons learnt from the UNAIDS “three ones” principles to other health issues. It is forming a combined taskforce for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The country now has a single national strategic framework for health that is costed and disaggregated for each of its states.

There is a growing demand for access to treatment and prevention services within Nigeria. This can be met by strengthening the current partnership between global, national and local partners. “The economic meltdown is not a reason for reducing investments that save babies and keep mothers alive,” said Mr Sidibe. “We cannot afford to let down the four million people living on treatment and the millions who are waiting for it.” Nigeria has a long way to go, but it is on the road already—providing access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé meets Agnes, 21 February 2010.
Credit: UNAIDS

Agnes, barely six months old, was comfortable going into the lap of complete strangers, smiling and clutching fingers that were extended towards her. She has been making regular visits to the clinic with her mother Sarah and father Yusuf Samalia. These have been made possible by the Millennium Village Project that is providing comprehensive health, education and poverty alleviation programmes in the Pampaida village located in the Kaduna state of Nigeria. Of the 20,000 people who live in the area around 44% are in the reproductive age groups.

Five years ago, few pregnant women would go to a health centre to get an antenatal check up. Most would never return after their first visit. It was common that women gave birth at home, often attended by untrained help and no recourse to healthcare in case of an emergency.

Sarah however belongs to a new generation that has seen her village transform as she became an adult. The village health worker motivated her and other women to come to the local health clinic for routine check ups. Here trained doctors and nurses provide quality health care. The results can be felt by the community. Between 2007 and 2009 there were about 240 institutional deliveries, a three fold increase in women who have benefited from maternal child health services that have come nearer to home. There were only four deaths due to pregnancy related complications, a sharp drop from times before the project began.

At one of her antenatal check ups, Sarah was diagnosed as living with HIV. She was offered treatment and counselling on how to prevent her child from getting infected. She coaxed her husband to take the HIV test at the clinic. He too was found to have HIV.

Mother and child attend the health clinic in Pampaida village, 21 February 2010.
Credit: UNAIDS

Yusuf has a second wife. “I am now romancing her to come and take the test,” he said. His eyes are hopeful that she may not have been infected.

Dr Ojo Euitayo and his team sent Sarah to the referral hospital some 30 kilometres away from her village, a burden they feel is too much¬—physically as well as financially for the people of the village. But the parents were determined to ensure that their baby was not born with HIV. “We have to stop all new infections. It is our moral duty.” Yusuf told the visiting UNAIDS Executive Director and Deputy Governor of the Kaduna State.

“Yusuf and Sarah have shown courage by taking the HIV test and to ensure that they give their child a full chance to be born without HIV,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “We can and must eliminate mother to child transmission by 2015.”

Agnes was born at the referral hospital in Kaduna and upon birth was administered antiretroviral prophylaxis. Her mother chose to breast feed her. “We counsel all mothers about infant feeding options, including substitution feeding. However most people cannot afford it,” says Dr Ojo. “Once the mother makes the decision, we take all efforts to support her.”

The clinic serves as a good model for basic health care. They take the help of village health worker like Ibrahim who can treat malaria and diahorrea and help in referring patients with TB to the clinic. The village health workers are now professionals in their own right, even though they make have just barely passed school. With an intensive training they have been able to take on many tasks and freeing up the nurses and doctors to focus on major needs. The village clinic is now also experimenting with mobile phones, seeking advice from professionals as well as in monitoring the health progress of their village.

In a nearby youth centre, a different kind of transformation is taking place. Vuhu Lawal is learning how to use a computer and the internet along with his friend. Their equally young and energetic trainer Yusuf Ibrahim is proud to show off his centre. In between classes on how to use a word processor, he often talks to the young people about HIV and other issues. More children and young people are in school today, especially girls. The fields around the school and clinic have been tilled, thanks to loans as well as training available to the famers. Access to a thriving market has helped cut off the middle man, bringing more money into the household. Today, most people are living above the poverty line earning more than US$ 1 per day. All this has been possible with small but effective investment of US $110 per person.

The local resource centre in Pampaida village, 21 February 2010.
Credit: UNAIDS

“The millennium project in Pampaida in many ways demonstrates how the world can look like if we achieve the millennium development goals,” said Janthomas Hiemstra, the Deputy Country Director of Programmes for UNDP which implements the project. The growing success of the programme has attracted other development investments in the area. The state government of Kaduna has built a road into the village and mobile telephony providers have installed a distribution tower.

The Deputy Governor of the Kaduna state Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa is happy with the success of the village and the national and international attention it is getting. “We must take the lessons learnt from Pampaida and apply it across Kaduna. We will work towards elimination of mother to child transmission and strive for zero new infections in Kaduna,” he promised.

Yusuf and Sarah are in many ways privileged to live in a millennium village. Elsewhere their fellow citizens have not been so lucky. Only 11% of HIV-positive pregnant women have access to mother to child transmission prevention services. Agnes has been given a chance to be born without HIV, but her parents and health care workers are waiting to find out about Agnes’s HIV status. The health centre currently does not have access to rapid infant diagnostic kits. Director General of National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Dr Joseph Idoko promises to make them available immediately. Till then Yusuf and Sarah will have to wait and hope for the best.

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Information and Communication, Mr Alhaji Aliyu Ikra Bilbis, launched the campaign.
Credit: UNAIDS

To mark World Post Day on 9 October, Nigeria held a national launch of a global awareness campaign in collaboration with the Universal Postal Union, UNAIDS, the ILO and UNI Global.

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Information and Communication, Mr Alhaji Aliyu Ikra Bilbis, launched the campaign by calling for the involvement of more stakeholders to support the government in the AIDS response in a comprehensive manner, adding, “Nigeria has demonstrated dynamism in the response to HIV.”

While congratulating Nigeria Post (Nipost) on its latest effort towards contributing to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halting and reversing the spread of HIV by 2015, UNAIDS Country Coordinator Dr Warren Naamara said, “Nigeria has shown her commitment to achieving this MDG goal, but there is still a need to get more stakeholders and players on board so that the country’s response to HIV reaches even more people.”

Dr Naamara encouraged Nipost to collaborate with the country’s National Agency for the Control of AIDS and the State Agencies for the Control of HIV to build a sustainable comprehensive multi-sectoral response to HIV and AIDS.

This innovative campaign provides post office visitors and employees with important information about how to prevent HIV through a series of eye-catching posters and hand-outs. The materials also give the address of a multi-language website on HIV prevention, hosted by UNAIDS, which provides detailed information about how to prevent infection.

The campaign in Nigeria is part of the first phase in a series of similar drives undertaken by the participating agencies in six other countries: Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Estonia and Mali. The countries were chosen because of their HIV prevalence rates and to give a broad geographical spread. Nigeria has an HIV prevalence of 3.1% and ranks second only to South Africa in terms of the number of people living with HIV.

UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé has commended the campaign for its innovativeness, saying, “The postal network has an extremely wide outreach; it is open to everyone from the young to the old and is an excellent and innovative way to raise awareness about how to prevent HIV.”

The Postmaster General of Nigeria Mallam Ibrahim Mori Baba read a statement at the launch.
Credit: UNAIDS

During the first phase, nearly 24,000 post offices in seven countries are displaying and distributing information materials with more UPU member countries expected to join later. For the second phase, ILO is preparing a toolkit for postal employers to inform their staff about HIV. UNI Global, a global union which brings together over 900 trade unions representing over 15 million members worldwide, is working closely with the postal departments and trade unions for this phase. The third phase is planned for 2011, where the UPU will invite its member countries to issue a stamp to commemorate the identification of AIDS in 1981.

In many parts of the world, post offices already have a social role by promoting public health messages within their community. Over the next three years, the campaign will be expanded globally, potentially making its way into 600,000 post offices worldwide. This would mean that millions of people who use postal services every day as well as the 5.5 million postal employees worldwide would receive important information about how to prevent HIV transmission.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, signing the agreement. 21st September, New York.
Credit: UNAIDS/B.Hamilton

UNAIDS and the Millennium Villages Project signed an agreement in New York to strengthen efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Africa. The aim of the partnership is to help local governments create “Mother to child transmission-free zones” in 14 ‘Millennium Villages’ across ten African countries.

The Millennium Villages Project, a partnership between The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Millennium Promise, and UNDP, seeks to end poverty by working in rural areas throughout Africa. The new initiative will use the existing infrastructure, human capacity and technical resources in the villages, to help rapidly expand family- and community-centered heath services with focus on stopping new HIV infections among children.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, signed the agreement in the presence of business and African leaders. The ceremony was held under the auspices of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal.

“I salute this partnership to help protect mothers and their children from HIV. This initiative will mobilize resources and generate political will to save young lives, leading to a generation of African children born free of HIV,” said President Wade.

(L to R): President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.
Credit: UNAIDS/B.Hamilton

Also speaking at the ceremony were Dr Lydia Mungherera, a Ugandan HIV prevention activist representing the organizations HIV+ and TASO. The Executive Director of UNICEF, Ms Ann M. Veneman, the Minister of State of Mali, Mr. Abou Sow; the South African Minister of Health Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi; and Ambassador Eric Goosby, MD, the United States Global AIDS Coordinator participated in a panel discussion at the event.

Each day 1,200 children under the age of 15 are infected with HIV; 90% of these infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa. According to Mr. Sidibe, “In all of Western Europe there were fewer than 100 mother-to-child transmissions (MTCT) in 2007, whereas in sub-Saharan Africa, there were more than 370,000.”

The top priorities outlined in the memorandum include measures to ensure that women of child bearing age avoid getting infected, those that are infected avoid unwanted pregnancy; increase access to antenatal care services; HIV testing and counselling to expectant mothers; and expanded access to HIV prevention and treatment services for children.

The agreement will bring together the Millennium Village Project’s multi-sectoral and science-based development and primary healthcare strategy with UNAIDS’ expertise in community and family-centred prevention strategies in order to create ‘MTCT-free zones’, whose progress will be monitored by both entities.

Executive Director of UNICEF, Ms Ann M. Veneman, South African Minister of Health, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé.
Credit: UNAIDS/B.Hamilton

“We hope that the creation of ‘MTCT-free zones’ in the Millennium Villages will serve as a model that can be used throughout Africa whereby communities are engaged, men and young people are active partners, and children are born free from HIV,” Mr Sidibé said.
In 2007, there were 2 million children under 15 years living with HIV, up from 1.6 million in 2001 and less than 15% in need of treatment were getting it. In sub-Saharan Africa, only a third of pregnant HIV-positive women received the antiretroviral treatment (ART) to prevent transmitting the infection to their infants, compared with nearly 100% in Western Europe.

Operating in 14 sites in 10 sub-Saharan African countries, the Millennium Villages project has been working with local governments to introduce a model primary health system which will cover approximately 500,000 people.

The Villages work on a model primary health system and include education, nutrition and economic development. The primary health systems include; free services at the point of care; trained professional community health workers; a network of adequately staffed primary clinics; access to a mobile communication network and emergency transport services to facilitate referrals; and a local referral hospital to support second-tier care. The system houses a monitoring and evaluation platform that can readily assess the adequacy, uptake and impact of HIV testing and counselling and family centered HIV prevention services.