The federal government on Tuesday flagged off the implementation cycle of the $933 million grant donated to the country by the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria between 2024 and 2026.
Speaking during the ceremony in Abuja, the coordinating minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate said the grant would also support the building of a resilient and sustainable system for health.
He said Nigeria is the highest recipient of the Global Fund grant in the 2021 – 2023 implementation periods with over $1.2 billion including COVID-19 allocation.
He said: “The experience from investment in health systems with a high emphasis on laboratory systems strengthening for surveillance, diagnostics, and quality assurance/quality control informed the implementation design of the 2024- 2026 implementation period.
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“At the end of 2023, more than 87 million nets have been distributed across Nigeria over the last five years with the Global Fund’s support. The governments of Nigeria, PEPFAR, the Global Fund, and other partners’ efforts have significantly increased the number of people diagnosed with HIV and placed on antiretroviral therapy.”
He said over the years, the efforts by governments and partners have enabled some successes in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria responses in Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN) Patrick Dakum who spoke on behalf of the principal recipients of the Global Fund GC7 project, said the recipients commit firmly to program efficiency, to make sure that every dollar counts, and to financial accountability, as well as adhering to the Global Fund guidelines on programming.
He said that the role of principal recipients is to ensure that the sub-recipients deliver the services with accountability.
He said one of the things that have enabled IHVN to get to where it is, is the strong financial oversight, strong systems, internal audit, and a board that ensures that they do what they are supposed to do and do it well.
