NACA Launches N50bn Private Sector-led HIV Trust Fund

States now to bear 20% cost of treatment

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The federal government lead agency in the eradication the scourge of HIVAIDS, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), yesterday embarked on a campaign to raise N50 billion private sector-led Trust Fund.

Following the refocusing of the efforts at alternative local sources of funds for the HIV intervention, NACA said state governments are now to pay for 20 percent of the treatment of people living with HIV in their states as well as to provide HIV test kits.

The agency said the move to mobilise funds from local sources was to help fill the current gap in domestic resourcing and financing of HIV prevention and treatment interventions in Nigeria.

Speaking during the launch of the National Domestic Resource Mobilisation and Sustainability Strategy in Abuja, the Director-General of NACA, Dr. Gambo Gumel Aliyu, said between 2005 and 2018, a total of $ 6.2 billion was spent on the HIV response in Nigeria, including the diagnosis and treatment of 1.08 million people living with HIV.

Gambo said the sustainability of the HIV response requires mobilising resources for the response to reduce the country’s dependence on external funding.

“I also wish to commend the target of raising a start-up fund of N50 billion using the private sector-led HIV Trust Fund,” he said.

According to Gambo, NACA is exploring other innovative sources of funding to ensure that coordination, data governance, social protection and community support are adequately covered.

He noted that “between 2005 and 2018, a total of $ 6.2 billion was spent on the HIV response in Nigeria, including the diagnosis and treatment of 1.08 million people living with HIV.”

He also said over 81 percent of these funds came from international donors, while public funds accounted for 18 percent and private funds provided an additional one percent.

While providing update on the treatment intervention, Gambo said 17 percent of the infected adults and children are on anti-retroviral treatment.

On treatment funding, he said external donors covered up to 82.8 percent of the total HIV while public resources constituted about 17.2 percent.The DG said the National Domestic Resource Mobilisation Strategy has articulated key strategic and innovative approaches to address the current gap in domestic resourcing and financing of HIV prevention and treatment interventions in Nigeria.

Gambo added that a key focus to foster resource sustainability and strengthen public financing of HIV at the sub-national/state level is a recommendation for states to take charge of at least 20 percent of treatment of people living with HIV in their states and to provide HIV test kits.

He said the agency is happy with the continued support from President Muhammadu Buhari to the HIV response with his approval for the annual financing of 50,000 additional people on treatment.