West Africa Regional Program
The HIV/AIDS epidemic in West Africa has remained relatively stable, with HIV prevalence markedly lower than in East and Southern Africa. Adult HIV prevalence is estimated at 2 percent or under in Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. The highest HIV prevalence rates are found in Cameroon (5.3 percent), Côte d’Ivoire (3.4 percent), Gabon (5.2 percent), and Nigeria (3.6 percent), according to the 2010 Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic. Based on 2005 data, close to 6 million people in countries supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in West Africa are living with HIV/AIDS. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria is second only to South Africa, though the epidemic has stabilized recently. Heterosexual sex is the primary form of transmission.
As of February 2011, two West African countries – Ghana and Nigeria – had signed Partnership Frameworks with the U.S. Government (USG). Partnership Frameworks are designed as five-year joint strategic frameworks for cooperation among the USG, the partner government, and other partners to combat HIV/AIDS through service delivery, policy reform, and coordinated financial commitments. Partnership Frameworks also support and strengthen national HIV/AIDS strategies; focus on building strategic partnerships with host nations to secure long-term sustainability for HIV/AIDS programs; and are transparent and accountable in execution, with the active participation of other key partners from civil society, the private sector, bilateral and multilateral partners, and other international organizations.
View the full
USAID HIV/AIDS Health Profile for West Africa, February 2011 [PDF,
390KB].
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