90% of Nigeria’s HIV/AID intervention programmes funded by foreign donors

Despite the current ranking that placed Nigeria as one of the countries with the highest HIV/AID incidence in the world, prevailing facts indicate that Nigerian government only contribution is 10 percent of the funds for the management of the disease.

About 90 percent of the funding of intervention programmes for the management and control of the disease is provided by foreign donor agencies, led by the USA Agency for International Development.

Muhammad Ibrahim, director, Health System Strengthening-SIDHAS, disclosed that the sustenance of the HIV/AID intervention programme was being threatened by poor funding by the Nigerian government.

Ibrahim, who made this disclosure on Tuesday, during an ‘Agenda for SIDHAS Stakeholder Sustainability Engagement Meeting’ held in Kano State Government House, want the government to take ownership for the HIV/AID programme in the country, as the American government had indicated its move to scale down its funding of the programmes.

Giving an insight into the breakdown of the incidence of HIV/AID in the country, he revealed that presently there were over 27,000 people with HIV/AID in Kano State, making it one of the highest in the country.

“The HIV/AID intervention programme under the flagship of NACA started in Nigeria in 2007, and Kano State government was the first state in Nigeria that established a coordinated agency for the control and management of the disease.

“There is the need for the state government to do more as the international donor agencies are scaling down their activities in the country. One of the agencies, USA Agency for International Development is fully scaling down this year,” he noted.

Ibrahim called on the Kano government to be prepared to provide more funding for the control and management of the disease in order to sustain the gains recorded so far in the state.

In his address at the occasion, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje said his administration was ready to take over the funding and management of the HIV/AID intervention programmes started under SIDHAS.

Ganduje expressed delight in respect of the gains recorded so far in the control and management of the disease in the state, assuring that his government would intensify efforts in the area of prevention and to curb the spread.

According to him, one of the steps his government plans to take is the introduction of HIV/AID Free Certificate to be issued to everyone tested and approved to be free of the disease in the state.

He said it was the intention of his regime to sponsor a Bill that would make it mandatory for people that want to get married in the state to get the Certificate before their marriage could be approved.

In preparation for the introduction of the Certificate, he revealed that a proposal of the Bill was currently before the state Council of Ulama for considerations, after which the proposal would be presented to the state House of Assembly.

He expressed appreciation to the international donor agencies for the support they had render to the state, and promised not to let them down in sustaining the gains recorded.