…Priotizises treatment for HIV positive mothers
By Joyce Remi- Babayeju
Today President Muhammadu Bahari made a historic intervention in the health sector as he launched a N 62.1 billion HIV Trust Fund to sustain the country’s response to health emergencies.
The trust fund was launched at an event at the state house on Tuesday is to improve and sustain treatment interventions in public health diseases.
During the launch President Buhari, expressed optimism that the private sector-led initiative will surpass the N62billion target in the next five year, which includes adequate provision of treatment for HIV-positive mothers and closing the funding gap for HIV in Nigeria.
The private sector-led funding for the HIV Trust fund of Nigeria is expected to crystalise a sustainable financial mechanism for the mobilisation and deployment of domestic private sector resources, particularly aimed at preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV in the country.
Executive Director, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Ms Winnie Byanyima disclosed that a total of 1.7 million Nigerians are living with HIV, while 1.6 million of that figure are on treatment.
Byanyima also made an urgent alert on the need to scale up domestic funding as Nigeria leads with the highest number of HIV infections among children.
She noted althought COVID-19 has pushed back intervention on the pandemic, but ending AIDS is not just a moral but an economic imperative.
