According to the Minister of State for Information and Communications, Aliyu Bilbis, Nigeria currently ranks second in countries infected with HIV.

The minister stated this on October 10th at the 2009 World Post Day Celebration and the flag-off of the National Postal Campaign against HIV held in Abuja.

Bilbis said that South Africa is currently at the top of the list and Nigeria is close behind with 2.6 million people infected with the virus.

"Despite concerted efforts made by governments and corporate bodies to curb the menace of HIV/AIDS, its statistics remain staggering and frightening.

"The HIV prevalence in Nigeria is discouraging. Whereas China with a population of 1.3 billion has 700,000 people living with HIV, Nigeria has 2.6 million persons living with HIV out of her population of 140 million people.

"Brazil's 192 million population has 730,000 people living with HIV, while Cameroon with a population of 18.5 million has 540,000 infected with the disease.

"Globally, Nigeria is second only to Republic of South Africa regarding the numbers of persons living with HIV/AIDS," he said.

Daily Independent

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