The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has revealed that Nigeria has over 1.8 million people living with HIV.
The director of the USAID Office of HIV and TB Control, Rachel Goldstein, made this known during a virtual ceremony to start distribution of equipment and machines to foster self-reliance among vulnerable households in Adamawa State.
Goldstein who was joined by the Chief of staff to Adamawa State, Prof. Maxwell Michael Gidado, during the distribution stated that the donation of equipment in Adamawa is a part of USAID’s $19.2 million Integrated Child Health and Social Services Region 4 Award (ICHSSA 4).
She said it will help more than 75,000 vulnerable children and their caregivers in Adamawa and Bauchi states become more resilient to the HIV epidemic’s health and social consequences.
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A statement by the USAID said the agency is currently serving over 500,000 vulnerable children and their caregivers in high HIV burden states in Nigeria.
“This equipment will help children, adolescents and adults impacted by HIV to gain financial stability, stay on treatment, and ultimately achieve suppression of the virus.
“We hope the equipment will help families improve their situation in life and strengthen markets that will sustain them at the local level,” Goldstein said at the ceremony.
The equipment includes 900 wet and dry grinding machines for agribusiness, 350 fish drying implements for aquaculture, and 700 sewing machines for tailoring and fabrication of local textiles.
According to the USAID, the activity is part of a broader effort to provide comprehensive support services to HIV affected households. “To improve economic resilience, ICHSSA 4 has a strong vocational education component for the activity’s beneficiaries, who now require reliable equipment to monetize their skills”.
USAID noted that it has been in partnership with the Adamawa state government, and has provided 2,000 of these beneficiaries — children and households living with HIV or in highly vulnerable areas — with start-up kits and other equipment.
“We are happy to have these equipment support the state government efforts in taking care of the vulnerable,” Prof. Gidado said.
Last month, USAID under ICHSSA 4 made a similar donation to beneficiaries in Bauchi State.
USAID said it currently supports 16 states, including Adamawa and Bauchi, to deliver client-centered HIV treatment services to over 500,000 individuals and distributes HIV test kits, medicines, and laboratory reagents to support delivery of life-saving HIV treatment to over 1.2 million Nigerians throughout the country.
