Nigeria’s HIV initiative attracts N56m from Julius Berger

Julius Berger Nigeria Plc has committed N56 million to the HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria (HTFN) as private sector stakeholders rally to raise N62.1 billion towards beating the scourge of HIV in the country.

The initiative aims to tackle the funding deficit facing efforts to eradicate AIDS in Nigeria, especially in the aspect prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

The company is one of the trust fund’s five funding trustee member organisations that set the fund raising exercise in motion as President Muhammadu Buhari officially launched it at the Aso Villa Banquet Hall, Abuja, with Lars Richter, the company’s managing director present.

Themed “No child in Nigeria should be born with HIV; no child in Nigeria should be an orphan because of HIV; no child in Nigeria should die due to lack of access to treatment”, Winnie Byanyima, executive director UNAIDS, in her keynote address, lauded the initiative, citing staggering statistics indicating two out of every three women in Nigeria currently do not receive any HIV test during pregnancy which poses serious risks of infection to their babies.

Julius Berger Nigeria has been supporting the fight against the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria as one of its corporate social responsibility projects. In June 2019, it donated a fully functional office and operational base in Abuja to the Nigerian Business Coalition against HIV-AIDS (NiBUCAA) initiative.

NiBUCAA coordinates the fund raising project in line with the recommendations of the Nigeria National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA ) on prevention of the disease.

Read also: Collective responsibility can end HIV transmission – Wigwe

The HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria is expected to improve efforts to ensure coverage of high-IMPACT HIV interventions that will provide the requisite treatment for HIV positive mothers, while contributing to closing the funding gap for HIV in Nigeria that currently stands at about $108 million per annum.

he fund will improve maternal health and reduce child mortality (especially in the rural and peri-urban communities) in Nigeria through programs focused on awareness creation on PMTCT, HIV prevention education for women who are in their reproductive age, and the provision of testing services and antiretrovirals for HIV positive pregnant and infected babies, the statement read.

The fund is currently chaired by Herbert Wigwe, the group managing director of Access Bank Plc.

Other board of trustee members include Mike Sangster, the managing director of Total Energies Exploration and Production Nigeria; Aliko Dangote chairman, Board of Trustees, Dangote Foundation and president of the Dangote Group; Osagie Okunbor, managing director, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria- SPDC, and the country chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria; and Lars Richter, managing director and CEO Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.

Julius Berger offers integrated construction solutions, in addition to its planning, design, and engineering capacities. It also has the capacity to unlock expansive knowledge on cutting-edge construction technologies globally, through its European subsidiary Julius Berger International.