Oluwatobi Adu 
ABUJA, Nigeria – Health authorities in Nigeria have committed to making a new long-acting HIV prevention injection, lenacapavir, widely available after successful deployment in South Africa, Eswatini, and Zambia.
Temitope Ilori, head of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), said the twice-yearly injection demonstrates 99.9% efficacy in preventing HIV transmission and will be available in Nigeria at just $40 per person annually, down from $28,000 in the U.S. thanks to partnerships with Unitaid, the Gates Foundation, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
“Through the tireless efforts of The Clinton Health Access Initiative, UNITAID, and the Gates Foundation, the price of this groundbreaking prevention tool has been reduced from $28,000 USD to as little as $40 USD per person per year,” Mrs Ilori said.
Current statistics indicate that 1.3% of Nigerian adults aged 15–49 are HIV-positive, with 1.9 million people living with the virus. Despite a 46% drop in new infections over ten years, coverage gaps remain, particularly for pregnant women and early infant diagnosis.
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