HIV: 1.7m Nigerians benefiting from US CDC anti-retroviral treatment

The United States Centre for Disease Control said it had partnered with Nigeria for decades to provide anti-retroviral treatment to 1.7m people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the country.

The US-CDC Nigeria Country Director, Dr. Mary Boyd, disclosed this in Abuja during a World Press Conference held to shed light on the upcoming Primary Health Care Summit slated for March 24-25, 2022, in Abuja.

Boyd said the US-CDC had also helped in scaling up immunisation programmes for malaria and other disease outbreaks.

He said, “For decades, the United States has partnered with Nigeria to invest in the health and well-being of Nigerians.

“The U.S-CDC stands with the Nigerian government and expects that the upcoming PHC summit will be instrumental in enabling the highest quality of care for all by ensuring service integration, equity, accountability and resilience.

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“Primary health care saves lives, saves economies, and is foundational to making health systems work better for all people.”

Boyd noted that globally, including in the U.S., COVID-19 exposed not only pre-existing weaknesses in the health system, but also inflicted devastating health and economic costs that many countries are still struggling to recover from.

She, however, said that it had created a once-in-a-generation opportunity for transformational change.

“It has highlighted the critical role of PHCs in pandemic response from testing to contact tracing to vaccination response. All these in addition to its primary responsibilities of providing routine immunisation, polio response, epidemic of chronic diseases and cancers,” she added.

Boyd commended the Federal Ministry of Health, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the multi-sectoral response agencies for their concerted response in the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I also want to thank the FMOH and NPHCDA for calling all partners together and taking advantage of this opportunity to re-think the PHC delivery in Nigeria,” the country director said.