Stemming AIDS-related deaths among Nigerian children

Without doubt, the number one killer of adolescents and young adults in Africa is the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Though deaths arising from the disease have decreased among other age groups over the past decade, they have increased among adolescents. Recently, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that almost 15 per cent of the AIDS-related deaths in children and adolescent globally occur in Nigeria. According to UNICEF, Nigeria recorded about 22,000 new infections and 13,000 AIDS-related deaths among children aged 0 to 14 years in 2019. This brings the total number of children in this age group living with the disease in Nigeria to 150,000. Globally, the total number of children said to be living with the disease is 2.8 million.

Among adolescents, (aged 10 – 19 years) about 170,000 were newly infected with HIV globally. Ten thousand of these people are in Nigeria. Generally, the total number of adolescents with HIV in the world is 1.7 million. In Nigeria, it is 110,000 people.  Last year, every minute and 40 seconds, a child or young person under the age of 20 was reportedly infected with Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV). In 2018, over 47 children and adolescents reportedly died every day from AIDS-related causes in Nigeria. This calls for serious concern.

HIV can be contracted through mother-to-child transmission and through sexual intercourse. About 15 per cent of young people reportedly start having sex before the age of 15 years. For some girls in some parts of the country, child marriage is a factor. Some of them are married at the young age of 15 and at this age, they stand a high risk of contracting HIV.    

Besides, many people now ignore precautionary measures to prevent HIV/AIDS. In the early years of the epidemic, there were strident enlightenment campaigns to warn people about the dangers posed by the disease. People were cautious and avoided things that could lead to contracting it. Now, these appear to have been neglected.

The advent of the coronavirus pandemic is another problem. COVID-19 pandemic has diverted attention from AIDS and other deadly diseases and interrupted the HIV treatment and prevention services worldwide. According to UNICEF, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, paediatric HIV treatment and viral load testing in children in some countries declined between 50 and 70 per cent. New treatment initiation reportedly fell by 25 to 50 per cent.

Also, prevention efforts and treatment for children have been low. Adults have more access to life-saving treatment than children. In Nigeria, paediatric coverage of antiretroviral treatment is said to be 36 per cent.

Unprotected sex, especially among adolescents, is another factor that should not be ignored. These adolescents are about 22.3 per cent of Nigeria’s population. They usually engage in risky sexual activities oblivious of the harm they are causing to themselves. This is more prevalent in higher institutions because most students are detached from parental control at that stage. In the South East, for instance, about 17 per cent of sexually transmitted infections are said to be among adolescents.

This is largely caused by lack of sex education. Some parents shy away from teaching their children the truth as regards early sex and the dangers associated with it. This is as a result of cultural or religious beliefs and taboos about sex. These children grow up knowing next to nothing about sex and sexuality. When they become adolescents, they rely, sometimes, on wrong information that exposes them to serious harm.  Apart from AIDS, they could contract some other sexually transmitted diseases that could wreak havoc on their lives. 

It has become imperative to let Nigerians know that AIDS is still around. We shouldn’t assume that it is all over. There is need to lay more emphasis on preventive measures. Community leaders should create more awareness on how to stem the tide.

Parents should teach their children sex education early in life. It should also cover their sexuality, contraception, safe sex and the dangers of having sex at a young age. This reduces certain risky sexual behaviour like unprotected sex and having multiple sexual partners later in life. It is also important to provide sexual and health information and services to adolescents. 

Government at all levels should endeavour to improve HIV counselling, testing, treatment, care and support for children and young people. Also, young people should be engaged in the national strategic plan to address HIV/AIDS in adolescents. It is hoped that the new global strategy to end AIDS epidemic, launched in 2015, will go a long way in enhancing the global efforts to end the epidemic among young people by 2030.

Therefore, people should be on guard not just against COVID-19 but also against AIDS. As the UNICEF Nigeria Representative, Peter Hawkins, rightly put it, “the world is still struggling with the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, but there is hope for a vaccine. But we must remember that there is no vaccine for HIV.”