The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole has disclosed that Nigeria has moved to the fourth position among countries worst hit by the HIV epidemic.

With an earlier estimate of about 3.2 million people living with HIV, Nigeria was ranked second after South Africa which ranks first with about 7.1 million people living with HIV.

Speaking during a press briefing held after the announcement of the Nigeria HIV/AIDs Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS) result on Thursday, Mr Adewole said Nigeria has now moved to the fourth position after South Africa, India and Mozambique, following the findings of the survey. The event was held at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja.

In 2016, a report by the World Health Organisation stated that Nigeria had the second largest HIV epidemic, with over 196,000 adolescents representing 10 per cent of the global burden epidemic.

However, findings from the largest HIV survey to be conducted in the world puts Nigeria prevalence rate at 1.4 per cent.

The federal government launched the National AIDS survey in June 2018 to determine the true distribution of HIV and AIDS, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C in the country.

The survey reached around 220,000 people in about 100,000 households and was conducted between July and December 2018.

The result of the survey shows that about 1.9 million Nigerians are currently living with HIV, a figure which is lower than the previous estimate.