Trump cutting funds to PEPFAR, what does it mean?

By Dr.Chinonso Egemba

Nigeria has the world's second highest number of people living with HIV.

If you don't treat HIV, almost everyone affected will develop AIDS.

To treat HIV, they need ART drugs and these drugs have become so effective that a HIV positive person can no longer transmit the virus if the level of the virus is suppressed.

These drugs are expensive, so a lot of the drugs available are donated to us.

Now that donation has been cut, what does this mean?

If Nigeria doesn't rise to the occasion and take charge:

1. Infections will rise, currently it's close to 200000 infections every year

2. People will die from AIDS, drugs are not available.

3. Our already burdened healthcare system will be burdened further which might be make or break.

These are just a snippet of the ripple effect. Let's not forget that diseases like tuberculosis and malaria are being affected also by the pause of funding.

Now is the time to take our health system seriously, the second best time was yesterday.

Nigeria can not continue to depend on donations for its own healthcare.