Speaking at a one-day sensitisation workshop organised by the State House Medical Centre to mark the 2022 World AIDS Day, the Permanent Secretary stated that this year’s theme: Equalize to End AIDS; Equal Access to Treatment and Prevention Services underscores the “need for government, leaders at all levels, healthcare managers, care givers and individuals to identify with and tackle the inequalities slowing down the pace of ending the disease in Nigeria.”

“The theme underscores targeting and increasing access to essential HIV services across key population such as children, prisoners, injection drug – users and others. This will increase their quality of life, increase their morale and give them a sense of belonging and also reduce and prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS.

“I wish to call on all Nigerians to support this noble cause by contributing their quota towards increasing HIV awareness and prevention and supporting all those infected and affected. Let us engender equity and equality in HIV care and services in our nation to enable HIV – free individuals, families, societies, communities and the country and to end the pandemic, the achievement of Health for All and overall, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” the Permanent Secretary who was represented by the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics in the State House, Olakunle Fasina, added.

In her opening remarks, the Consultant Physician/Nephrologist and the Anti-Retroviral Therapy in the Medial Centre, Dr Victoria Ogala-Akogwu, stated that World AIDS Day was celebrated globally as a day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease.

She lamented that “the response and progress towards achieving HIV goals have slowed down, not only in Nigeria, but globally. And that is why the World AIDS Day 2022 with the theme, Equalize to End AIDS, was made with the call for all of us to unite to equalize against AIDS.”

Dr Ogala noted that there seemed to be a global decline in jingles and discussions on HIV/AIDS, stressing that stigmatization was also gradually creeping back into HIV services.

She therefore called on the citizens to join hands with government and the international community in ensuring that the fight against HIV/AIDS was sustained by not discriminating against people with HIV and ensuring equal access to HIV services among diverse segments of the society.

The Medical Director, State House Medical Centre, Dr Hussein Yakassai, appreciated the State House management for providing the enabling environment for the centre to provide essential services towards the fight against HIV/ AIDS, stressing that the clinic has been commended by National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, as one of the centres providing quality services in the fight against the disease.

Speaking earlier, Director General, NACA, represented by Dr Josephine Kalu, stated that one of the key developments in this year’s commemoration of World AIDS Day was the signing of a  National Domestic Resource Mobilization and Sustainability Strategy Agreement.

He said that the Agreement, which was launched in June 2021, at the first instance was for Taraba and Abia states.

In a lecture on Nigeria’s effort in the fight against HIV/ AIDS, Dr Ebuta Agbor of the State House Clinic stated that Nigeria was committed to the elimination of HIV/AIDS noting that as at 2018, of the 1.9m people living with HIV, 55% of the adult and 35% of children population respectively, were on anti-retroviral treatment.

Dr Agbor also remarked that there had been a steady decline in HIV infections in Nigeria as well as deaths from the pandemic.

The First Lady, Dr Aisha Buhari, was given an award by Sustenance Home Group for her support and interventions in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

There were goodwill messages from Future Assured Project, People Living with HIV In Nigeria and other HIV support groups.

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Speaking at the launch of the HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria, HTFN, the president pledged that his administration would continue to prioritise health interventions to address killer diseases and public health emergencies.

”At the last United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, I made a call for a renewed global action to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.

”Ending AIDS as a public health threat in Nigeria will require increased domestic funding. We have continued to make good our commitment of placing more people living with HIV on treatment annually using national resources.

”However, strong domestic resource mobilisation with an enduring partnership and shared responsibility is required to sustain the response to HIV and other emerging public health emergencies,” he said.

President Buhari noted that Nigeria’s purposeful partnership with the private sector in the response to COVID 19 pandemic had provided a readily available financing solution to leverage on to sustain the HIV response.

He commended the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, and the Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDS for their efforts in establishing the HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria to secure a generation of babies free of HIV.

He also expressed delight with the attendance in person of notable global key players in HIV response and from the private sector at the event and the pledges made.

”Going forward, I hope the HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria will galvanize more of the private sector and other partners to surpass the target of Sixty-Two Billion Naira in the next five years,” he added.

In his remarks, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, announced that since 2005 about $6.2 billion had been spent on HIV response in Nigeria.

”About 80 per cent of the funds were contributed by external donors, mainly the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR, and the Global Fund to fight AIDS,  Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Private Sector contributed 0.1 per cent to 2 per cent of total funds with the rest of funds provided by the Nigerian government.”

Acknowledging NACA’s efforts to promote resource mobilisation to complement existing external support, Mustapha said the federal government had sustained the treatment and financing of 50,000 PLHIV annually.

He said the launch of the HTFN would guarantee funding from the private sector-led resources for HIV interventions especially for the elimination of the Mother-to-Child transmission of the virus.

”Since 2005, about 6.2 billion dollars has been spent on HIV response in Nigeria about 80 per cent of the funds were contributed by external donors mainly the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to fight AIDS,  Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Private Sector contributed 0.1 per cent to 2 per cent of total funds with the rest of funds provided by the Nigerian government.”

Chief launcher and Chairman and CEO of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said the mission of the private sector led fund proposed by NACA alongside the Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDS, NiBUCAA, was to ensure mobilisation of resources towards eradication of AIDS in Nigeria, starting with the Prevention of Mother-to-Child transmission of the virus.

”I am reminded that we have two million of our compatriots living with HIV/AIDS and it is our collective responsibility to bring this number down to zero,” he said.

Dangote, who is Africa’s richest man, appealed to individuals and corporate organisations in the country to donate generously toward the Fund, currently chaired by Dr Herbert Wigwe, the Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc.

”We would like the private sector to work in partnership with the Federal Government on a 50-50 basis which we believe will help us eliminate Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria,” he said.

Also speaking, the Director-General of NACA. Dr Gambo Aliyu, thanked the president for his commitment and support for the HIV response in the country, noting that as a direct result of his intervention, NACA now procured HIV commodities at manufacturers’ rate, as a result of which more Nigerians living with HIV had been placed on treatment from domestic resources.

He said within the last three years, the agency had identified and placed on treatment an additional 900,000 persons living with HIV, bringing the total number of Nigerians on HIV treatment to 1.7 million.

”This unprecedented feat puts Nigeria on a fast-track lane to control HIV spread by 2023.

”However, 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,” he said.

Justifying the need for the Fund, the Director-General said providing life-long treatment to all PLHIV even after successfully stopping new HIV infections would require a domestically sustainable financing mechanism.

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Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said this in a message to commemorate the 2021 World AIDS Day.

The theme of the commemoration is: “End Inequalities, End AIDS, End Pandemic.”

Moeti said the disease had particular resonance nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said in 2020 two out of every three new HIV infections occurred in Africa, corresponding to almost 2,500 new HIV infections every day.

Moeti said that sadly, AIDS claimed the lives of 460,000 people, or a shocking 1,300 every day, in spite of free access to effective treatment.

“The challenges notwithstanding, Africa has made significant progress against HIV in the past decade, reducing new infections by 43 per cent and nearly halving AIDS-related deaths.

“In the region, 86 per cent of people living with HIV know their status, and 76 per cent are receiving antiretroviral therapy.

“We cannot adequately express our support for those living with HIV, especially within a context where we know that treatment and care have been negatively impacted across Africa by the demands of COVID-19.

“As we remember those who have lost their lives to AIDS this year, we also acknowledge the terrible death toll the coronavirus pandemic has taken and continues to take,” the WHO chief said.

According to the organisation, “going forward, we cannot afford to lose focus on the urgent need to end the inequities that drive AIDS and other epidemics around the world.”

Moeti lauded Botswana, which she said was on the home stretch to eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission in what was truly remarkable public health success.

According to her, only 16 countries have been certified for eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission, none of which had as large an epidemic.

She said it had taken more than two decades of hard work by leaders, health workers and communities, illustrating what were possible when the health and welfare of mothers and children were prioritised.

Moeti said the African continent might not end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

She said the continent fell short of the expected 75 per cent reduction in new HIV infections and 81 per cent reduction in AIDS-related deaths by 2020.

“Despite the very high percentages of people living with HIV who know their status, and treatment rates, new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths are not decreasing concomitantly.

“It remains critical for us to reach those who are fuelling the epidemic, addressing the persistent inequities in the provision of quality care and interventions.

“For instance, in West and Central Africa in 2020, key populations and their sexual partners accounted for 72 per cent of new adult HIV infections.

“Yet punitive laws, policies, hostile social and cultural environments, and stigma and discrimination, including in the health sector, prevent them from accessing services.

“In Sub-Saharan Africa, young women are twice as likely to be living with HIV than men.

“For adolescents aged 15 to19 years, three in every five new infections are among girls who do not have access to comprehensive sexuality education,” she said.

Others, she said, “are those who face sexual and gender-based violence and live with harmful gender norms. They also have less access to a school than their male peers.”

She added: “With COVID-19, people living with HIV appear to be at elevated risk for virus-related illness and death.

“Nearly 70 per cent live in the WHO African Region, where only 4.5 per cent of people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

“As efforts to tackle COVID-19 continue gathers force, and the world prepares itself against future pandemics, we risk repeating many of the same mistakes that have kept us from ending AIDS.”

Moeti said that addressing inequality was critical to ending both AIDS and COVID-19 and preventing future pandemics.

The regional director assured of efforts to ensure that everyone, everywhere, had equal access to HIV prevention, testing, treatment, and care, including COVID-19 vaccinations and services.

She urged governments to prioritise investment in health for community-led, human rights-based, gender transformative responses.

“We must boost our essential health workforce and secure equitable access to life-saving medicines and health technologies.’’

Moeti said global solidarity and shared responsibility were critical components of the kind of rights-based approach needed to end HIV/AIDS and COVID-19.

Source: NAN

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The president spoke at a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Meeting on HIV\AIDS to review the progress on commitment to end the deadly disease by 2030 and provide recommendations to guide and monitor response in countries.

The president addressed the meeting in a video message.

Pledging Nigeria’s full commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, SDG, and other international and regional initiatives towards eliminating HIV & AIDs in the world within the set goal, President Buhari said:

”We will continue to work with fellow Heads of State and Government across the continent to ensure sustained high-level political engagement in achieving these goals.

”I want to reiterate Nigerian Government’s full support for a clear and ambitious Common African Position & New Political Declaration that can help to reduce the public health threat of HIV/AIDS, strengthen resilience  to end the disease, and in addressing current and future health emergencies.

”We further commit to urgently translating all new and agreed Political Declarations into country action as a means of decisively addressing the HIV epidemic in the African region.’’

Apprising the meeting of Nigeria’s response to control the disease, the president expressed delight that the country ”has moved from a data poor to a data rich country with the results of the largest AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey, conducted in 2018.”

He added that the result of this survey has enabled Nigeria to set realistic targets and identify those who were not being reached with the necessary services.

”This has further enabled Nigeria, through the support of the United States Government, Global Fund, Civil Society and other partners, to enrol almost 1.5 million Nigerians on life-saving HIV treatment.

”We have recorded tremendous growth in our treatment programme, especially over the past 2 years,” the president said.

President Buhari told the meeting attended by Heads of State and Government, ministers and diplomats that Nigeria had made good its commitment at the High-Level Meeting Side Event at the 72nd Session of the UNGA in September 2017, to commence placing 50,000 Nigerians living with HIV on treatment annually, using national resources.

”Furthermore, I personally granted an exceptional waiver for the use of competitive international tender facilities to procure antiretroviral medicines at more than 30% cost efficiency, enabling more Nigerians to be placed on life-saving antiretroviral treatment within the same budget,” he said.

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Dr Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, announced the receipt of the grant at a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja.

The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GF) is an innovative international financing mechanism established by the United Nations in 2002, with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

It is a global partnership of governments, civil society and private donors.

It was established for the purpose of attracting, leveraging and investing resources to fund public health interventions to accelerate the eradication of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in affected high burden countries, towards Sustainable Development Goals.

Ehanire said that the fund was the largest made to any country in the funding cycle, attributing it to the successful funding request made by the Nigeria Country Coordination Mechanism, CCM.

CCM Nigeria, the custodian of Global Fund, GF, grant, is a body of representatives of government, bilateral and multilateral organisations, Civil Society Organisations, patients, communities, the private sector and academia.

The mandate of CCM is to oversee the delivery of Global Fund HIV, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Resilient Sustainable Systems for Health (RSSH) grant.

According to him, the CCM, Country Coordinating Mechanism Nigeria is the official national establishment, through which The Global Fund relates with Fund recipient countries.

“The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Health, facilitated the establishment of Nigeria’s CCCM in March 2002 as the recognised entity with the mandate to receive Global Fund grants on behalf of the country.”

The minister said the Global Fund raised and invested nearly four billion dollars a year to support programmes in countries and communities that are most in need.

Ehanire said Nigeria ranked among the largest recipients of Global Fund investments in the world.

“Since inception in 2002, The Global Fund has committed the sum of USD$2,585,537,824 to operations in Nigeria, which are split into four programme areas: (a) HIV/AIDS, (b) Tuberculosis, (c) Malaria, (d) Resilient Systems Strengthening for Health, (RSSH).

“Of that amount, Nigeria has, as of date, accessed US$2,436,371,946, representing 94 per cent of the committed amount.

“Key achievements of the Global Fund investments in Nigeria are as follows:

“For the HIV/AIDS component, the Fund investment has contributed to placing 1.04 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) on treatment in Nigeria. With the support of the Fund, Nigeria has provided life-saving ARVs for 194,900 PLHIV on ART.

“In addition, the fund supported the 2018 NAIIS survey which provided precise data on the epidemic in Nigeria, confirming HIV prevalence of 1.3 per cent,’’ he said.

On the TB programme, the minister said with the support of the fund, about 120,000 TB cases were identified and treated annually since the inception while TB services provided in more than 12,000 health facilities.

“We have provided 398 GeneXpert machines in 36 states and FCT.’’

For malaria, he said the Global Fund had contributed to a decline in malaria prevalence from 42 per cent to 23 per cent from 2010 – 2018.

“Eleven million Long Lasting Insecticide Treated mosquito nets are distributed annually through mass campaigns.

“At least 4 million confirmed malaria cases treated annually at public health facilities in 13 states supported by the Global Fund.

“The Fund has also built six Pharma grade medical warehouses, supported procurement of three X-ray mobile vans for screening of tuberculosis in Lagos.

“This is in addition to infrastructural upgrade of health facilities and laboratories and capacity building for frontline health care workers under RSSH.’’

According to him, Global Fund conducts fund replenishment meetings every three years, where it mobilises contributions from governments, private sector and philanthropists to support its public health programmes around the globe.

“Nigeria also contributes as these events has so far contributed a cumulative sum of 28.62 million dollars to the Global Fund since its inception, including 10 million dollars pledged at the replenishment in Montreal, Canada, in September 2016.

“At the last replenishment conference in Lyon, France, in October 2019, Nigeria increased its contribution to the Global Fund by 20 per cent with a pledge of 12 million dollars for the period 2021-2023.’’

In addition, the minister said the amount approved (890 million dollars) would be to support Nigeria’s HIV, TB, Malaria and Health Systems Strengthening Programmes.

“With this amount, Nigeria’s grant is reportedly the single highest allocation to any country and a demonstration of The Global Fund’s confidence in the administration and programmes of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“This grant will complement the investment of the Government of Nigeria and of other Development Partners in HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria programmes, including the Resilient and Sustainable System for Health, over the period 2021-2023.

“The approval of this grant came following the review of the proposal that CCM Nigeria submitted on 23rd March 2020, which was adjudged to be technically sound and strategically focused by the independent Technical Review Panel of the Global Fund,’’ he said.

Ehanire further said with regard to Nigeria’s COVID-19 response effort, the Global Fund gave approval to repurpose the sum of 6.2 million dollars out of our on-going grants for HIV, TB and malaria, to support implementation of our initial Incident Action Plan (IAP) for COVID-19.

“This Fund was used to support rapid expansion of Nigeria’s diagnostics capacity for COVID-19 through decentralisation of testing to all 36 states and FCT, using existing TB diagnostic instrument – the GeneXpert Machine.

“It was also used for the procurement of Biosafety Cabinets for the GeneXpert Laboratories to be able to conduct COVID-19 tests, without exposing the laboratory scientists to risk of infection, mass campaign of test kits and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for frontline health workers.’’

Similarly, the minister said The Global Fund also approved a grant of 21.9 million dollars to support Nigeria’s COVID-19 response, the new grant being the result of a proposal Nigeria CCM submitted to it few weeks ago.

“The new grant will be specifically used to procure test kits to support COVID-19 testing with the GeneXpert machine and other molecular laboratory equipment.

“Overall, The Global Fund grants for COVID-19 will support testing for about one million Nigerians over the next 12 months.

“On behalf of the President of the Federal Republic and the people of Nigeria, I extend appreciation to The Global Fund for the generous donations to Nigeria over the years,’’ he said.

Source: NAN

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She made the revelation on Thursday when she led a delegation of U.S. officials and top partners on an advocacy visit to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The envoy’s assertion followed Governor Sanwo-Olu’s assurance to the American government on his administration’s ongoing executive-led actions to repositioning the activities of the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency, LSACA, for greater impacts and improved service delivery.

The meeting, held at the State House in Alausa, was aimed at securing the support of Lagos State government in the implementation of additional $75 million budget for an Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) Surge programme funded by the American government under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR.

Administered by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control, CDC, U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the healthcare project is to provide free ART care to approximately 60,000 people living with HIV.

The project will also be implemented across the nation.

Sanwo-Olu said Lagos needed the “strategic collaboration” with the U.S. government and other development partners to stem the number of HIV victims.

He said the state had deployed the best approach in giving care to victims currently being managed by LSACA, but assured that his government would continuously review the effort for efficiency and measurable impacts.

The governor said: “This collaboration is required and needed for us to properly address the scourge of HIV/AIDS. It is only when we raise the bar of efficiency on our part that our partners can say they want to do a lot more. We will not hesitate to position ourselves and reposition our agency to actualise the deliverables, so that the people targeted in the programme can get relieved of the trauma.

“We are going to ensure that access to the programme is open and more robust in order to realise a win-win situation envisaged by the funders. It is only when we show those commitments in terms of resources, human capital and timelines that we get positive feedbacks and keep track of the objectives of intervention.”

Sanwo-Olu said Lagos would continue to leverage the partnership with the U.S. government, pledging the state’s commitment to its success.

He added that his administration would do everything required to achieve the goals of the healthcare project in the state.

“My Government will give all the support that is needed by the Lagos State agency to meet all expectations spelt out in the intervention,” the governor said.

Pierangelo thanked Sanwo-Olu for committing relevant agencies of the state to working with stakeholders in the implementation of the ART programme, expressing appreciation to Lagos State government for cooperating with American government in the move to achieve control of HIV epidemic in Nigeria.

She said: “In Lagos State, we have found one of our best partners in Nigeria and Lagos government has worked with us hand-in-hand; over the last five years we have invested a significant amount of money in Nigeria. Over $250 million, over the last five years, has been dedicated to finding, testing, diagnosing and treating Lagos State citizens and anyone else; this is to help them get treatment for HIV/AIDS and help live a productive, happy life and contribute to the economy growth.

“We have had a very productive meeting with Governor Sanwo-Olu. He is our great supporter not only in this programme, but also on healthcare issues generally in Lagos. The U.S. remains committed to supporting Nigeria as it works to reduce and ultimately eliminate the scourge of HIV/AIDS among its people.”

The envoy further urged the state government to remove all barriers hindering people living with the disease from accessing free services offered by the U.S. government through PEPFAR project.

She said the disbursement of the additional PEPFAR funds was predicated upon the readiness of the federal and states’ governments to eliminate financial barriers that prevented victims from accessing the programme, especially fee charged for non-essential services already provided by PEPFAR.

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The agreement was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, and the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Mr Michel Sidibe at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja.

The team had earlier met with President Muhammadu Buhari to launch the new result of the survey undertaken by the group.

The minister acknowledged the results the effort of the organisation has yielded.

“On behalf of the government and people of Nigeria, we’d like to express our profound gratitude to you and your organisation for the great cooperation extended to us to tackle this major health challenge,” Onyeama said.

On his part, the team head, Mr Sidibe, praised the effort of the president and the country in its fight against HIV/AIDS.

He said the survey conducted by the organisation showed that Nigeria had less people living with the disease.

“This is a transformative moment for the country, because the survey is the largest survey we have managed to have in the history of the response to HIV.

”This survey is good news, because it is showing clearly that we have less people infected with HIV, less cases of new infection and less death due to HIV.

“We want to use this momentum to reinforce, strengthen and enhance our relationship with Nigeria.

“We know with our new data, we can be more focused, we can really go to where the epidemic is and be more efficient in term of utilisation of resources and have a better return on what will be invested in this fight,” Sidibe said.

According to him, the Memorandum of Understanding signed is a cooperation agreement to have a direct relationship with UNAIDS.

”Up till the point of signing, the organisation has been working under the larger umbrella of the United Nations, but with this agreement, they will be operating directly with Nigeria,” he said.

UNAIDS is the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS and a special team handling all HIV/AIDS related crisis.

The programme unites the efforts of 11 UN organisations to combat, reduce and eventually eliminate HIV/AIDS.

Source:  NAN

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