US spends $600m on Nigeria’s health

United States has injected about $600m into Nigeria’s health care services, the US Ambassador Terrence
McCulley said on Tuesday. McCulley said this during the public presentation of the updated national HIV vaccine plan in Abuja on
Tuesday. He said, “As part of US health initiatives totalling more than $600m a year focussing on HIV, tuberculosis,
malaria and other health programmes, this event helps synergises research efforts to improve health care in
Nigeria.” The envoy added that the US had spent $18.6bn to improve health care services across the world, with
another $48bn for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to run from 2008 to 2013. He said, “This plan is to help synergise the fight against Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria through
science and research.” Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Pius Anyim, represented by Permanent Secretary,
(Special Duties Office) in the Office of the SGF, Dr. Henry Akpan, said progress had been made by the
government in HIV prevention and treatment. He said, “Nigeria has witnessed a decline of 25 per cent in its HIV prevalence in the last decade. HIV
prevalence has declined from 5.8 per cent in 2001 to 4.1 per cent in 2010 but of the huge population, Nigeria
remains the most burdened country. “The government is promising political support and dedicated resources to ensure the translation of the
National HIV Vaccine Plan to action.” Director-General of National AIDS Control Agency, Prof. John Idoko, maintained that unless efforts were made
to provide scientifically proven vaccine, HIV/AIDS would continue to pose threats to Nigeria. Idoko said the focus of the government was to create a platform with the responsibility of building an HIV
vaccine research capacity, formation of collaborative efforts. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has said it will create a new budget line geared towards enhancing
the discovery of HIV vaccine in the country. A member of the House, Haruna Kigbo, said the lawmakers were considering meeting the US Congress on
crucial issues, including additional financial assistance in the area of HIV and other health care facilities.