National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, has launched National Domestic Resource Mobilisation and Sustainability Strategy (2021-2025) to reduce over-dependence on international donors to fund HIV/AIDS interventions, responses and meet the 95:95:95 HIV target by 2030.
At the launch of the strategy in Abuja, the Director General of NACA Dr. Aliyu Gambo said the target was to diagnose 95 per cent of all HIV positive persons, provide Anti-retroviral Therapy (ARTs) for 95 per cent of those diagnosed, and achieve viral load suppression for 95 per cent of those treated by 2030.
“Sustaining HIV funding requires resource mobilisation and this resource mobilisation has always been external.
“It is time to mobilise resources domestically and to ensure that sustainability of HIV funding is guaranteed after epidemic control”.
Dr. Gambo stressed the importance for the country’s strategy to reflect the need to expand its resource base and increase domestic resources to diversify sources of funding.
He also disclosed that 6.2billion dollars was spent to identify and treat 60 percent of PLWHIV in Nigeria between 2005 and 2018 noting that international donations accounted for over 80 per cent of the amount.
“Between the year 2005 to 2018 about 6.2 billion dollars was spent to identify close to One million people living with HIV in this country and place them on treatment.
“However 80 per cent of this money came from international donors and development partners, only 18 per cent of the money was contributed by the federal and state government and one per cent of it came from the private sector”.
The NACA DG noted that it was essential for national and state stakeholders to assume greater ownership of the HIV response including financing and strong accountability structures
According to him, these strategies are needed to monitor the use of the fund that are raised and to ensure that they are spent on activities that will continue to have real impact on people living with HIV/AIDS.
On his part, the chairman house committee on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Abubakar Dahiru who warned that if the foreign donors decide to stop funding, 80 per cent of the nation’s resources will diminish while urging state governors to contribute their quota to the effort of ending HIV/AIDS in the country.
RN