Airtel, UNAIDS Partner to Tackle Mother-To-Child HIV Transmission in Nigeria

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, have partnered to support the National Agency for the Control of AIDS in an initiative to ensure that no child is born with HIV in Nigeria.

The UNAIDS and Airtel partnership sealed through a Memorandum of Understanding signed today will allow the Telco’s subscribers to benefit from information on how and where to access prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV services in Nigeria.

The information shall be disseminated through innovative and regular text messages.

In July 2011, a Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive was launched at the United Nations General Assembly Meeting on AIDS.

On its part, Nigeria unveiled a National Operational Plan in 2014 focused on eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and accelerating the implementation of similar efforts in the country.

The UNAIDS partnership with Airtel Nigeria bolsters the Telco’s existing partnership with the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), other government departments and the Civil Society to boost Nigeria’s efforts at eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

In 2013, Nigeria represented 22 per cent of the global burden of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, although new scientific evidence indicates the target to have zero new HIV infections among children is achievable.

Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer and managing director, Airtel Nigeria, said the partnership will provide Airtel with a new opportunity to deepen its commitment to touching the lives of Nigerians positively, especially in the area of quality healthcare services delivery.

“At Airtel, we have a track record of supporting and empowering young people, who are the future leaders of our country. We have adopted and built schools for children; provided several interventions in the area of healthcare for hundreds of kids while our Touching Lives programme has even offered us a more elaborate platform to reach and connect with underprivileged children. Indeed, Airtel is intensely interested in impacting society positively as this underscores our corporate philosophy of becoming the most loved brand in the daily lives of Nigerians,” Ogunsanya said.

On his part, Prof. John Idoko, director general, the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, said, “NACA has worked in strong partnership with Airtel since 2005. The partnership commencing today is a new extension of the valued support that UNAIDS and Airtel are providing to the HIV and AIDS response in Nigeria. Airtel’s decision to invest in keeping more children and mothers healthy is a much welcome intervention.”

Also, Dr. Bilali Camara, UNAIDS Country Director for Nigeria and the UNAIDS Focal Point for the ECOWAS, added that, “Eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV and keeping their mother alive do not only improve the wellbeing of children and their mothers. They impact positively on the general maternal and child survival.” 

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.

Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers, offerings products like 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers.

While, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners to maximize results for the AIDS response.