This happens two months after United States (US) President Donald Trump's administration cut access for people who are at risk, groups like gay men and injecting drug users to medication that prevents infection.

Cherem admits he should have been more careful about practicing safe sex but had become accustomed to using the US supplied pharmaceutical.

The drug known as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, is typically taken daily as a tablet and can reduce the risk of contracting HIV through sex by 99%.

"I blame myself. Taking care of myself is my first duty as a person," Cherem said at his gym in Awka, the capital of Nigeria's southeastern state of Anambra.

"I equally blame the Trump administration because, you know, these things were available, and then, without prior notice, these things were cut off." 

Trump ordered a 90 day pause on foreign aid after taking office in January and halted grants by the US Agency for International Development.

The agency was responsible for implementing the bulk of the assistance under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the world's leading HIV/AIDS initiative.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicentre of the AIDS pandemic.

Trump's cuts have restricted the availability of drugs that millions of Africans have taken to prevent infection, particularly vulnerable communities such as gay men and sex workers, as aid groups and public health systems in Africa strove to roll back the disease.

--Reuters--