A health expert, Dr Erasmus Morah, says improved health data and political commitment have helped expand Nigeria’s HIV treatment coverage.

Morah is the Senior Adviser to the Director-General on Global HIV, Strategic Partnerships and Health Sovereignty at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

He said this at the 11th edition of the Future of Health Conference, organised by Nigeria Health Watch in Abuja, with the theme, “From Innovation to Impact: The Future of Health is Now”.

He said Nigeria’s experience demonstrated how reliable data could improve health planning, resource allocation and the delivery of treatment services.

According to him, Nigeria’s estimated HIV burden was previously put at 3.2 million people, but the Nigerian AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS), conducted in 2018, revised the estimate to approximately 1.9 million.

“The survey findings, released in March 2019, also put HIV prevalence among adults aged 15 to 49 at 1.4 per cent, compared with the previous estimate of 2.8 per cent,” he said.

He said that the revised estimate changed the denominator used to calculate treatment coverage, highlighting the importance of accurate data in assessing the performance of public health programmes.

Morah cited a UNAIDS data, which indicated that Nigeria’s HIV treatment coverage increased from 55 per cent in 2016 to more than 85 per cent in 2020.

He said that it reflected improved data, stronger political commitment and the expansion of antiretroviral treatment services.

“The experience shows that public health programmes can make greater progress when professionals are willing to question established assumptions and use evidence to guide decisions,” he said.

He also stressed the importance of political leadership and community participation in translating health innovations into measurable outcomes.

He said that every major health innovation required a locally accountable implementation coalition led by a champion and shaped by affected communities.

The expert said that innovation alone would not deliver the desired results without collaboration among scientists, political leaders and communities.

“Science without politics is powerless. Politics without science is dangerous. We must bring the two together,” he said.

Drawing on his experience as UNAIDS Country Director in Malawi from 2002, Morah said that fewer than 1,000 people were receiving HIV treatment when he arrived in the country.

He said limited access to HIV testing was a major obstacle to identifying people who needed treatment.

He said that Malawi’s reliance on voluntary counselling and testing had not reached enough people, prompting efforts to expand testing through national initiatives and provider-initiated approaches.

“A national HIV testing initiative resulted in more people being tested within five days than had been tested during the preceding six years.

“This demonstrated the importance of challenging assumptions about communities’ willingness to access health services.

“The lessons from Nigeria and Malawi reinforce the need to combine scientific evidence, political commitment and community engagement to improve health outcomes,” he said.

The Africa CDC adviser said African countries needed to strengthen collaboration among governments, development partners, researchers and community organisations to accelerate progress against HIV and other public health challenges.

He said that innovations should be assessed, not only by their introduction, but also by their impact on access to healthcare and the lives of affected populations.