Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, has assured that the Federal Government was addressing all funding and policy gaps to tackle the challenges in the nation’s healthcare system, especially in the face of the cut in funding by the United States.

He noted that although the US decision was sudden and reduced the various measures initially put in place by the Federal Government through policies and interventions.

Pate stated this while speaking at an interactive session with the House Committee on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Thursday.

He said, “So the changes that have occurred in the landscape which brought to this conversation, particularly the adjustment in U.S. policy. When we looked at it from our side, we understood that in fact it’s an opportunity for research.

“And we appreciate the contribution of the U.S. government, the billions of dollars of U.S. government and U.S. people’s resources that help, but the responsibility to provide for the country is on us immediately.

“And that while we appreciate what has happened in the past, now we have to look at how we orient ourselves to improve and continue so that no Nigerian who is doing technical care will go without treatment for HIV, malaria or other conditions.

“This change occurred at a point when we were 18 months old. We were able to have a lot of financial support because health care was very important. So we have now found that as part of our investment plan, we have an opportunity to do this.We now have another responsibility of putting more money into the Health Sector.

“So coming to the issues of HIV and tuberculosis in Nigeria, for 20, 25 years, external parties have largely funded HIV, TB, and malaria in Nigeria.And we appreciate those contributions that they have save lives.

“They have the laboratory capacity as well as the public health capacity. And it’s welcome. And when I mentioned external parties, this included the U.S. government through the DEFRA program, the USAID, through the malaria program.

“But there are also other bilateral partners, local health organizations, local funders, and others who comprise this 10 pee cent, but those 10 per cent largely have been outside government systems. They were contracted to external parties to deliver their assistance to Nigeria through the channels that they control”.

Pate said what helped the country was that it has already initiated many programs and interventions that have started yielding results in the healthcare sector through collaboration between the federal, state, and local governments in the country.

The minister added, “Most have been in place and thankfully the budget process has started and so with that understanding when this shift was announced we then went in once and did a very thorough bottom-up analysis like task force, technical government, comprising all our major agencies, NACA, Public Health, AIR program, TB program, all of the programs that are relevant to what we will take for us to fill the gap.

“We have approached multiple for HIV, for Malaria, for group reproductive health for Tuberculosis, for Nutrition and Public Health Care agencies, and to update it. So, U.S. government support was mostly heavily on HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis programs.”

In his address earlier, Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Amobi Godwin Ogah said, the committee is meeting with the minister to be on the same page with his ministry with the minister and to ensure that programs and projects relating to HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Malaria are implemented seamlessly without bottlenecks because of their critical importance in saving the lives of Nigerians.

He said, “My dear Coordinating Minister, we have always argued for increased domestic funding and less dependence on foreign funding for our health systems and as we are all aware of the withdrawal of financial support by the US Government towards funding for African Health systems.

“The Nigerian Government has equally risen to the occasion by allocating more resources to the fight against communicable diseases such as HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Thus, making the decision of the US Government to appear as a blessing in disguise.”