CSOs seek local financing for HIV, TB
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and other relevant Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have called for local financing for HIV and tuberculosis (TB). This is as the Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS In Nigeria (NEPWHAN) harped on the need for domestication of the anti-stigma, discrimination law. They made this known during the CSO Financing. […]
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and other relevant Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have called for local financing for HIV and tuberculosis (TB).
This is as the Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS In Nigeria (NEPWHAN) harped on the need for domestication of the anti-stigma, discrimination law.
They made this known during the CSO Financing.
It would be recalled that the Abuja Declaration of 2001 was a commitment by African Union member states to increase their annual health budgets to at least 15 percent of their national budget to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
The declaration, adopted in Abuja, Nigeria, also urged developed countries to meet their target of providing 0.7percent of their Gross National Product (GNP) as official development assistance (ODA) to developing nations.
While African countries pledged this increase, progress toward the 15 percent target has been slow, with only a few countries consistently meeting it.
With the recent pullback by global donors, the participants said the parliament needs to revisit how the Abuja declaration might come into effect.
Speaking at the event, Abdul Kadir Ibrahim, the National Coordinator of NEPWHAN, said it is pertinent for stakeholders to see how the nation can mobilise local resources for AIDS, TB and Malaria and for states across the country to revisit the HIV anti-stigma and discrimination to be domesticated by state Houses of Assemblies.
He said, “The US government’s policy shift has really given us the kind of strong signal that we need to look inward and also see how we could identify internal resources to accommodate and finance our health progress, most especially HIV, which has to do with our community members.
“Currently, about 80 to 85 per cent of HIV funding is being supported through foreign aid, especially with a large chunk from the US government and also about 35 per cent from the Global Fund and other funding sources. In all these, there is less than 15 per cent from the government of Nigeria.“
To ensure progress, he said, there is a need to capture people in the National Health Insurance Scheme and also ensure sustainability.