Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), has disclosed that Nigeria accounts one in every seven children born with HIV globally.
This as it said a more transmissible and damaging sub-type of HIV, has been isolated.
People living with the newly revealed subtype, experience doubles the rate of immune system decline (measured by the CD4 count level of infection-busting T cells) and has higher viral loads.
UNAIDS said the newly identified variant does not represent a major public health threat but underscores the urgency of speeding up the UN’s drive to end AIDS.
In a statement, the UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Eamonn Murphy, noted that around 10 million people living with HIV are still not on antiretroviral therapy, “fuelling the continued spread of the virus and potential for further variants.”