By Joseph Erunke

THE Federal Government, Tuesday, announced receipt of $890 million grant from The Global Fund to tackle HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The amount, according to the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, who announced this at a media briefing in Abuja, was “a grant, made to the Federal Republic of Nigeria by The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.”

The Minister disclosed that money, “amounting to $890 million US dollars”, was “over an implementation period of three years, beginning from 2021 to 2023.

“This grant is the largest made to any country in this funding cycle and is a sequel to a successful funding request made by the Nigeria Country Coordination Mechanism CCM,” he said.

“By way of introduction, The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GF) is an innovative international financing mechanism established by the United Nations in 2002, with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.),” Ehanire explained.

He added that: “It is a global partnership of governments, civil society and private donors, established for the purpose of attracting, leveraging and investing resources to fund public health interventions to accelerate the eradication of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in affected high burden countries, towards sustainable development goals.

“The CCM, Country Coordinating Mechanism Nigeria is the official national establishment, through which The Global Fund relates with Fund recipient countries,” the minister further explained.

According to him, “The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Health, facilitated the establishment of Nigeria’s Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) in March 2002, as the recognised entity with the mandate to receive Global Fund grants on behalf of the country.

“The CCM Nigeria’s core mandates are: Identify strategic programs and develop and submit proposals to GF for funding, on behalf of the government of Nigeria.

“Provide technical and managerial oversight, guidance & support to the implementation of the grant, for impact.

“The Honourable Minister of Health is the Chairman of CCM Nigeria and CCM administers Global Fund grants, based on the principles of transparency, accountability and country ownership,” he said.

He explained further that: “The Global Fund raises and invests nearly US$4 billion a year to support programs in countries and communities that are most in need. Nigeria ranks among the largest recipients of Global Fund investments in the world. Since its inception in 2002,

“The Global Fund has committed the sum of USD$2,585,537,824 to operations in Nigeria, which are split into four program areas: (a) HIV/AIDS, (b) Tuberculosis, (c) Malaria, (d) Resilient Systems Strengthening for Health, (RSSH).

“Of that amount, Nigeria has, as of date, accessed US$2,436,371,946, representing 94 per cent of the committed amount,” the minister added.

According to him, “A breakdown of the funds disbursed to Nigeria so far is as follows: HIV/AIDS: 874,801,962; Tuberculosis: 338,655,681; Malaria: 1,168,613,356; RSSH: 44,178,974; TB/HIV 10,421,972.”

Achievements of the Global Fund investments in Nigeria, he explained “are as follows: For the HIV/AIDS component, the Fund investment has contributed to placing 1.04 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) on treatment in Nigeria.

“With the support of the Fund, Nigeria has provided life-saving ARVs for 194,900 PLHIV on ART. In addition, the fund supported the 2018 NAIIS survey which provided precise data on the epidemic in Nigeria, confirming HIV prevalence of 1.3 per cent.

ALSO READ: Coronation Research releases report on the Nigerian Investment terrain

“On the TB programme, with the support of the fund, about 120,000 TB cases are identified and treated annually since the inception while TB services are provided in more than 12,000 health facilities. We have provided 398 GeneXpert machines in 36 states and FCT.

For malaria, the Global Fund has contributed to a decline in malaria prevalence from 42 per cent to 23 per cent from 2010 – 2018. 11 million Long Lasting Insecticide Treated mosquito nets are distributed annually through mass campaigns. At least four million confirmed malaria cases treated annually at public health facilities in 13 states supported by the Global Fund.

“The Fund has also built 6 Pharma grade medical warehouses, supported procurement of 3 X-ray mobile vans for the screening of tuberculosis in Lagos in addition to Infrastructural upgrade of health facilities and laboratories and capacity building for frontline health care workers under the Resilient Systems Strengthening for Health, (RSSH).

“Global Fund conducts fund replenishment meetings every three years, where it mobilizes contributions from governments, the private sector and philanthropists to support its public health programmes around the globe. Nigeria also contributes as these events and has so far contributed a cumulative sum of US$28.62 million to the Global Fund since its inception, including USD$10 million pledged at the replenishment in Montreal, Canada, in September 2016. At the last replenishment conference in Lyon, France, in October 2019, Nigeria increased its contribution to The Global Fund by 20 per cent with a pledge of US$12 million for the period 2021-2023.”

The minister said: “The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have approved the sum of US$890 Million to support Nigeria’s HIV, TB, Malaria and Health Systems Strengthening Programmes.”

“With this amount, Nigeria’s grant is reportedly the single highest allocation to any country and a demonstration of The Global Fund’s confidence in the administration and programmes of President Muhammadu Buhari, and in his pledge to make the most judicious use of the resources for the improvement of health outcomes for Nigerians, especially the poor and vulnerable,” he added.

Ehanire said: “This grant will complement the investment of the Government of Nigeria and of other Development Partners in HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria programmes, including the Resilient and Sustainable System for Health, over the period 2021-2023.

“The approval of this grant came following the review of the proposal that CCM Nigeria submitted on 23rd March 2020, which was adjudged to be technically sound and strategically focused by the independent Technical Review Panel of the Global Fund.”

He added: “This grant will support the following: Access to malaria prevention, diagnostic and treatment services in 13 states. The States include Adamawa, Delta, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Taraba and Yobe States;

Access to HIV/AIDS and TB services across all 36 states and the FCT; Improvements in our health system, particularly, provision of infrastructure for warehousing and distribution of health commodities, laboratory services, data management and capacity building for our healthcare providers, including support to community systems.”

The implementation of the grant, he said: “will especially target the poor, the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, and those at higher risk of the target diseases, to promote equity in access to health care services.

“The grant will contribute to President Muhammadu Buhari’s Next Level Agenda for Health, and our progress towards Universal Health Coverage,” he stressed.

He spoke further: “With regard to Nigeria’s COVID-19 response effort, The Global Fund gave the approval to repurpose the sum of US$6.2Million out of our on-going grants for HIV, TB and malaria, to support the implementation of our initial Incident Action Plan (IAP) for COVID-19. This Fund was used to support a rapid expansion of Nigeria’s diagnostics capacity for COVID-19 through decentralization of testing to all 36 states and FCT, using existing TB diagnostic instrument – the GeneXpert Machine and the procurement of Biosafety Cabinets for the GeneXpert Laboratories to be able to conduct COVID-19 tests, without exposing the laboratory scientists to risk of infection mass campaign of test kits and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for frontline health workers.

“In addition, The Global Fund also approved a grant of US$21.9 million to support Nigeria’s COVID-19 response, the new grant being the result of a proposal Nigeria CCM submitted to The Global Fund a few weeks ago. The new grant will be specifically used to procure test kits to support COVID-19 testing with the GeneXpert machine and other molecular laboratory equipment. Overall, The Global Fund grants for COVID-19 will support testing for about 1 million Nigerians over the next 12 months.”

The minister expressed appreciation on behalf of the President of the Federal Republic and the people of Nigeria to The Global Fund for the generous donations to Nigeria over the years.

“Their support has had a significant impact on the lives of Nigerians, particularly with regard to prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. I also wish to thank the United Nations and our bilateral partners for the consistent support to our mission to achieve Universal Health Coverage for Nigerians.

“I wish to assure everyone that the grants will be put to judicious use and that a high level of transparency and accountability will be maintained in accordance with President Buhari’s injunction of zero tolerance for corruption,” he said.

Vanguard