Why Nigeria should fully fund its HIV/AIDS response
HIV was first reported in Nigeria in 1986. Thirty two years on there is an estimated 3.2 million people living with HIV in the country. However, 70% of funding for the national HIV/AIDS response in the country is done by donors.
But the sustainability of the foreign inflow of cash is being threatened by the dwindling funding from one of the biggest contributors to Nigeria’s HIV response, the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Though the government has gone a step further to fund the disease in two states of the federation, Taraba and Abia, the other states are at the mercy of donors. But even the government work in these two states are hampered by the poor release of funds. As Nigeria joined the rest of the world to mark this year’s World AIDS Day, suffice to say it is time for the country to reflect on its response.
Findings reveal that across the country, People living with HIV/AIDS are under the burden of paying user fees, and for tests and treatment and health facilities that they were hitherto not paying for when donors where paying for the response 100%.
People living with HIV/AIDS have cried out persistently that it was important for the Federal Government to take full ownership of HIV funding in order to improve their lives.
The National Coordinator of the Network of People Living with HIV/ AIDS in Nigeria (NEPHWAN), Victor Omosehin has said, unless that happens, more women will continue to lack access to Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTC) services and response in the area of prevention would continue to be challenged, as the level of sensitization and awareness was dropping.
He said response was not about treatment, but also prevention which needs to be a continuous process.
“More women are giving birth to HIV positive children even in Abia and Taraba states because only 20% of the funds was released to the agency in charge of the response, there is stock out of drugs everywhere,” Omosehin said.
He said: “This is wake-up call on government to take full ownership of HIV funding. Nigeria’s heavy dependence on external donors at 75 percent, while domestic financing is 25 percent; there is dwindling global funding for HIV in developing countries; the Nigerian government must bridge this funding gap.”
The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr Sani Aliyu, with his experience and passion to ensure optimal care for people living with HIV/AIDS, since his assumption of office has said repeatedly that there was need for Nigeria to own its response.
He said: “This is amazing, for a problem that is a Nigerian problem and here we are depending solely on external funds. Only about 27 percent comes from local funding, partly from the Federal Government and from few states, and the private sector provides about two percent. That shows that if we have problems with our partners, and we are cut off, about 700,000 people will be off treatment and that is a national security risk.”
He said it costs about N50,000 to deliver HIV care to a patient in a year, adding that the agency was pushing for HIV inclusion in the States Health Insurance Scheme.
Speaking during an event to commemorate this year’s World AIDS Day at Aso Villa last Tuesday in Abuja, he said that the Federal Government could not bear the burden alone; and that state governments and the organized private sector must play their part.
Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said an estimated 3.2 million people live with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, ranking only behind South Africa. Of this number, less than one million Nigerians are currently accessing Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) and that access to care by those in need remains a challenge.
While commending NACA, states and international partners that have made it possible to maintain over one million patients on livesaving antiretroviral therapy, he said challenges however remained.
“It remains a concern, that despite several years of interventions, access to paediatric ART services continues to hover around the 28% mark for six years running. It is equally worrisome that PMTCT services are available only to 30% of the pregnant population annually,” the minister said.
Prof Adewole said the poor indicators were unacceptable and require a re-think around our coordination strategies for the containment of HIV/AIDS in the country.
UNAIDS Executive Director, Mr Michel Sidibé, in his address which was read by UNAIDS Country Director for Nigeria, Dr Erasmus Morah, said to achieve “Right to Health” for People Living with HIV in Nigeria, the health sector needs all proposed additional funding with which to provide all people with the health services they need, including access to the full range of HIV services, without subjecting them to financial hardship.