COVID-19 pandemic and antiretrovirals (ARV) availability in Nigeria: recommendations to prevent shortages

Dada, David Adelekan; Aku, Emmanuel; David, Kenneth Bitrus

HIV/AIDS is an infectious disease that has claimed the lives of millions of people worldwide. Currently, there is no vaccine that has been developed in a bid to fight this deadly infection, however, antiretrovirals (ARVs), which are drugs used in the treatment of HIV infection are routinely prescribed to infected persons. They act via several mechanisms of action to reduce the severity of infection and rate of infectivity of the virus by decreasing the viral load while increasing CD4 counts. COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented events affecting almost all areas of humans' life including availability of medicines and other consumables. This paper analyses the availability of ARVs during COVID-19 era and offered recommendations to be adopted in order to prevent shortages.