The Nigerian private sector is to raise one hundred million dollars through the HIV Trust Fund for the prevention of Mothers- to -Child Transmission of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).

The fund launched in Abuja by President Muhammadu Buhari is to assist in increasing domestic funding for HIV/AIDS control in Nigeria.

The President said that his administration would continue to prioritize healthy intervention to address killer diseases and other health emergencies.

“We will continue to make good our commitment to place more people living with HIV on treatment annually, using national resources. However, strong domestic resources mobilization is required to sustain the response to HIV.“ President Buhari said.

He commended the private sector for taking the lead in the fight against HIV.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, said that the launch of the trust fund will guarantee the involvement of the private sector and lessen the financial burden on the federal government. He added that the fund will bridge the funding gap in the coming years.

According to the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Ms Winnie Byranyima, only 14% of HIV funding in Nigeria is by national contribution and Nigeria needed to do more.

She assured the Nigerian government that UNAIDS would continue to work with Nigeria to end AIDS by 2030.

Similarly, the Executive Director of Global Fund, Mr Peter Sands, said that the launch of the HIV trust fund in Nigeria was a great milestone in the fight against HIV in the country.

He noted that the launch of the trust fund is seen as an important element to sustaining HIV control in Nigeria.

On her part, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Merrybeth Leonard, said that the launch of the HIV Trust Fund creates an opportunity to bring the dynamic Nigerian private sector into HIV control.

She said that the fund would sustain the gains achieved in HIV prevention and is critical to sustaining HIV commodities.

The Group Managing Director Access Bank and the Board chairman HIV Trust Fund, Mr Hubert Wigwe, said that the greatest challenge facing HIV control is funding.

He said that the 100 billion dollars trust fund will have a more successful impact in reducing HIV in Nigeria.

Leading Nigerian businessman, Mr Aliko Dangote, said the fund demonstrates the role of the private sector in the health of Nigerians.

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of Aids, NACA, Dr Gambo Gumel, said that due to the president’s intervention, NACA now purchases HIV drugs at the manufacturer’s price. He commended President Buhari’s commitment to HIV response in Nigeria.

He however said that despite these achievements, the national coverage of prevention of mother to child transmission is less than 50%, leading to about 22,000 cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV every year in the country.

The HIV Trust Fund is aimed at achieving; “A Nigeria without Mother-to-child Transmission of HIV is possible when we all play our part.“

The House of Representatives, passed a bill seeking to prescribe a jail term of seven years, or a fine of N500m for officials who spend public funds on foreign medical trips narrowly passed second reading at on Wednesday.

The bill was sponsored by Sergius Ogun -PDP, Edo, the proposed legislation is titled, ‘A Bill for an Act to amend the National Health Act, 2014; and for related matters’.

Leading the debate on the bill, He noted that the objective of the proposed law was to amend the Act “so as to make provision for sanctions against any public officer, who violates the provisions of the Act, especially Section 46 of the Act”.

The section reads, “Without prejudice to the right of any Nigerian to seek medical check-up, investigation or treatment anywhere within and outside Nigeria, no public officer of the government of the federation or any part thereof shall be sponsored for medical check-up, investigation or treatment abroad at public expense, except in exceptional cases on the recommendation and referral by the medical board and which recommendation and referral shall be duly approved by the minister or commissioner of Health of the state as the case may be”.

“This bill, which seeks to amend the National Health Act, is borne out of a desire to discourage medical treatment abroad at the detriment of our indigenous health institutions. The need to revamp the poor state of the health care sector in Nigeria, among other things, is the reason for introducing this bill,” Ogun said.

“It is no news that Nigeria’s health care system is in a deplorable state and needs urgent attention. There is paucity of infrastructure, dearth of medical personnel, poor standards and many other challenges that need to be addressed. The intent of this bill is to spur public officers to pay more attention to our health care sector and take drastic steps to develop and improve on the sector.”

The lawmaker urged members of the House to look at the merits of the bill and let it pass “in the interest of our nation, which is currently going through trying times and requires drastic steps to bring it back on its footing”.

Ogun listed the merits of the bill to include the reduction of the exodus of doctors from Nigeria to other countries.

“If this House passes this bill into law, it will curtail the excessive medical trips of public officers abroad and direct their attention to fixing the poor state of the country’s health sector. This will, in turn, lead to the development of the health sector and improved remuneration for medical doctors, thus attracting Nigerian doctors abroad to come back home,” he stated.

The lawmaker also noted that the bill, when passed into law, would demonstrate the government’s commitment to the welfare of citizens, “in the sense that funds, which were hitherto expended on foreign medical trips, will be redirected into building an efficient and effective health care system in the country. This will in turn positively impact the lives and wellbeing of the people”.

Ogun also cited the reduction of capital flight abroad, saying, “This bill, as stressed above, will stop the export of cash abroad and redirect the same to the development of our economy.

“All of this cash, which flies abroad in the disguise of one medical trip or the other, will be retained here in our country and be used to develop our nation.”

While Ogun was making his presentation, the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, interjected him, asking if the lawmaker was sure of what he was saying.

Responding, Ogun noted that the Act prohibited unapproved spending of government funds on foreign medical services, but it failed to prescribe punishment for disobeying the law.

“I read the Act and the gazette is here. I was not in this Assembly then. It is an Act; it is a law of the land today. What I am basically doing…, my amendment is saying that there should be punishment for flouting that Act, which the Act did not capture. It could be (due to) an oversight,” he stated.

The lawmaker, therefore, proposed the insertion of Clause 2(2) to read, “Any public officer of the government of the federation or any part thereof, who violates the provision of sub-section (1) above shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine of N500,000,000 or to an imprisonment term of seven years, or both”.

The proposed punishment, however, generated murmurs in the chamber.