Lara Adejoro
The National Coordinator of the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, on Tuesday, said the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention cannot manage the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country.
He stated this in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Nigeria HIV prevention conference themed, ‘Accelerating HIV prevention to end AIDS through innovations and community engagement,’ organised by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS.
PUNCH Healthwise reports that in February, the Federal Executive Council approved the full implementation of the Stephen Oronsaye panel report to merge some parastatals, agencies, and some commissions, while others will be subsumed, scrapped, or relocated.
The decision was made at the FEC meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.
This, according to the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, is in line with the need to reduce the cost of governance and streamline efficiency across the governance value chain.
The report which was first issued in 2012, seeks to rationalise and reduce the number of departments and agencies of government.
One of the recommendations of the report is that NACA should be merged with the NCDC in the Federal Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, in March, President Tinubu approved the relocation of NACA to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
The agency was previously domiciled in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
However, Ibrahim, on Tuesday said the NCDC cannot manage and respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country.
“We are in a situation where we need to work together and also remind our government and partners on what to do and believe me, if we work together, we will achieve our goal.
“I’m glad that we have a new DG of NACA. When we heard the initial announcement, Leo (UNAIDS Country Director) will bear witness, we were worried that NACA will be collapsed, because there it was to be merged with the NCDC.
“I don’t know if NCDC is here but I can tell you that they don’t have the capacity to manage the AIDS epidemic in Nigeria because we have not seen their visibility in our AIDS response.
“So, collapsing NACA to be part of them is going to be a setback. For us as a community, we have our reasons. However, weeks after, we heard the announcement that we have a new DG, and we are happy in our community.”
He, however, advised the NACA DG to intensify efforts on HIV prevention, resource mobilisation, and condom messaging and programming for both males and females.
“Our prevention rate is at nine per cent, and we are expected to be at 25 per cent, and that shows that we are doing poorly as a country. We need to tell ourselves the truth, we want to control the disease in our country.
For me, we have an opportunity, you will be operating with the ministry, so let the National AIDS and STDs Control Programme focus on the treatment aspect. Let’s focus on prevention. Innovations are out there, and I know that if we focus on these, the roles of NACA will be more pronounced under your activity,” he advised.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa, while reiterating Tinubu’s vision and commitment to HIV eradication, said every Nigerian should have access to health services irrespective of their HIV status as a means to eliminate poverty and health strengthening.
Represented by Dr David Atuwo, he stated that the vision of the health renewal project is to produce health and reduce pain for all Nigerians.
Alausa added, “These goals are formed on four main pillars – effective governance, efficient and equitable quality health system, unlocking the health value chain, and health security. This vision changes how the government provides health for its citizens across the country.
“I call on all to join hands with us as we make this vision a reality for the benefit of all Nigerians.”
The minister went on to commend donors for their unwavering interventions and support in ensuring that Nigeria achieves the 95-95-95 target set for 2030.
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