Agencies mull HIV inclusion in health insurance scheme

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) is working with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) towards integrating HIV/AIDS services in the health insurance scheme.

Director-General of NACA, Dr Sani Aliyu made this known yesterday during a stakeholder’s consultative meeting in Abuja.

He said integrating comprehensive HIV/AIDS services into health insurance would enable patients to access treatment, adding that the agency was looking at all kinds of interventions that could help improve HIV/AIDS services in the country.

Aliyu said health insurance converts out of pocket expenditure for health into a pooled funding for health, and also generates a predictable and steady flow of domestic funds for health and by extension HIV/AIDS services.

He said; “Risks will be shared across different stakeholders - e.g. national, states and local governments, public and private providers, participants and donors - contributing to efficiency, cost effectiveness and innovation. It protects individuals and families from financial hardship due to cost of HIV/AIDS/Health services.”

The NACA boss said at the moment 75% of HIV/AIDS response was funded by international donors, while 25% was funded by the Federal Government.

He said there was need to take ownership of HIV/AIDS response hence the need to incorporate the services into the National Health Insurance Scheme.

The coordination between NACA and NHIS would enable people, who already pay into the NHIS to also access testing and treatment services at a very low or no cost, he added.

Executive Secretary of NHIS, Dr Usman Yusuf said he was committed to the collaboration to ensure that HIV/ AIDS services were incorporated into the insurance scheme.