All is now set for the launch of N62.1b private sector stakeholders-led HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria (HTFN), which is scheduled for Tuesday, February 1, in Abuja.
The fundraising project, coordinated by the Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDs (NiBUCCA) is in line with the recommendations of the National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) on the prevention of the disease.
The Trust Fund’s Managing Director and Executive Officer, Dr. Jekwu Ozoemene, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists, in Ibadan.
Ozoemene, who revealed that the HTFN remains a sustainable financial mechanism for the mobilisation and deployment of domestic private sector resources aimed at Preventing Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV in the country, added that the HTFN remains key to helping the country to achieve the UNAIDS 95-95-95 strategy of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030; achieving 95 per cent diagnosed among all people living with HIV (PLHIV), 95 per cent on antiretroviral therapy (ART) among diagnosed, and 95 per cent virally suppressed (VS) among treated.
“The HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria will improve efforts to ensure coverage of high-IMPACT HIV interventions that will provide requisite treatment for HIV positive mothers while contributing to closing the funding gap for HIV in Nigeria that currently stands at about U$108m per annum”, the statement read.
“The Trust Fund’s investment will improve maternal health and reduce child mortality (especially in the rural and peri-urban communities) in Nigeria through programs focused on awareness creation on PMTCT, HIV prevention education for women who are in their reproductive age, and the provision of testing services and antiretrovirals for HIV positive pregnant and infected babies,” he said.
