Increased AIDS figures cause for concern

Figures to be released in February on the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria could be higher than the 5.8 percent recorded for 2001, the chairman of the National Committee on AIDS (NACA) has said. Professor Babatunde Osotimehin said the most likely cause of an increase would probably be the fact that Nigerians had yet to realise the dangers of HIV infection. He expressed the fear that the expected figure could counter everything that NGOs, civil societies and individuals had worked for to reduce the impact of the pandemic. A local newspaper, This Day, quoted Osotimehin as saying: "This is going to be the beginning of a social crisis, because by next year, 2005, if not addressed, the country would have 400,000 new cases yearly."