The Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), John Idoko, on Tuesday, revealed that about 1,000 fresh cases of Human Immune Virus (HIV) is being recorded in country daily and that it was prevalent among the youth.

He made this known at a stakeholders meeting with the National  Steering Committee on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) organised by the Ministry of Women Affairs.

He, however, attributed the prevalence to lack of education, poverty, exploitation, gender imbalance among other reasons.

While stating that care of the OVC in the country remained a priority objective of NACA, Idoko said the agency hoped to achieve the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This came just as the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs  Josephine Anenih, stated  that there were about N17.5 million OVC in Nigeria, adding that the ministry was relying on the National Steering Committee for technical assistance in terms of policy development, coordination, advocacy for resource mobilisation and general support to address the challenges.

The challenges, she said included education, healthcare services, shelter, food and nutrition, economic empowerment, protection and psychological support.

“OVC like other children in the society need all the care and support to grow responsibly and contribute effectively to national development” she added.

Mrs. Anenih urged the members of the committee to look at the goals set to be achieved and critically assess how well the ministry was living up to the commitments made to the Nigerian child and for the attainment of vision 20:20:20 objectives.