The Nigerian private sector is to raise one hundred million dollars through the HIV Trust Fund for the prevention of Mothers- to -Child Transmission of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).
The fund launched in Abuja by President Muhammadu Buhari is to assist in increasing domestic funding for HIV/AIDS control in Nigeria.
The President said that his administration would continue to prioritise healthy intervention to address killer diseases and other health emergencies.
“We will continue to make good our commitment to place more people living with HIV on treatment annually, using national resources. However, strong domestic resources mobilization is required to sustain the response to HIV.“ President Buhari said.
He commended the private sector for taking the lead in the fight against HIV.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, said that the launch of the trust fund will guarantee the involvement of the private sector and lessen the financial burden on the federal government.
“Private-public partnership still works,“ Mustapha said.
He added that the fund will bridge the funding gap in the coming years.
According to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Ms Winnie Byranyima, only 14% of HIV funding in Nigeria is by national contribution and Nigeria needed to do more.
She said that the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the world back in the fight against HIV.
“More than a quarter of pregnant HIV women are in Nigeria. To end AIDS, we need to end inequality,“ Ms Byanyima said.
She also assured the Nigerian government that UNAIDS would continue to work with Nigeria to end AIDS by 2030.
Similarly, the Executive Director of Global Fund, Mr Peter Sands, said that the launch of the HIV trust fund in Nigeria was a great milestone in the fight against HIV in the country.
He noted that the launch of the trust fund is seen as an important element to sustaining HIV control in Nigeria.
“Global fund’s largest investment in HIV is in Nigeria. Nigeria has made significant progress in the HIV control programme in the past few years
“The launch is particularly important to generate more resources towards achieving 95.95.95,“ Mr Sands said.
On her part, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Merrybeth Leonard, said that the launch of the HIV Trust Fund creates an opportunity to bring the dynamic Nigerian private sector into HIV control.
She said that the fund would sustain the gains achieved in HIV prevention and is critical to sustaining HIV commodities.
The Group Managing Director Access Bank and the Board chairman HIV Trust Fund, Mr Hubert Wigwe, said that the greatest challenge facing HIV control is funding
He said that the 100 billion dollars trust fund will have a more successful impact in reducing HIV in Nigeria.
Leading Nigerian businessman, Mr Aliko Dagote, said that the fund demonstrates the role of the private sector in the health of Nigerians.
“The private sector will work with the federal government on a 50,50 basis,“ Dangote said.
The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of Aids, NACA, Dr Gambo Gumel, said that due to the president’s intervention, NACA now purchases HIV drugs at the manufacturer’s price.
He commended President Buhari’s commitment to HIV response in Nigeria.
“More Nigerians living with HIV have been placed on treatment from domestic resources. It is heartwarming to note that within the last three years, we have identified and placed on treatment an additional nine hundred thousand people living with HIV in Nigeria, bringing the total number of HIV infected Nigerians on treatment to one point seven million. This unprecedented feat puts Nigeria on the fast lane to contain HIV spread by the year 2023, seven years earlier than the global target.“ Dr Gumel said.
He however said that despite these achievements, our national coverage of prevention of mother to child transmission is less than 50%, leading to about 22,000 cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV every year in the country.
The HIV Trust Fund is aimed at achieving; “A Nigeria without Mother-to-child Transmission of HIV is possible when we all play our part.“
PIAK
