Dr Precious Gbeneol, Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has said that the local production of anti-retroviral drug will reduce the cost of procurement.
Gbeneol made this known in Abuja at the end of a three-day consultation on national ownership for sustainable HIV response.
“You will all agree with me that local production will reduce the cost of procurement and ensure universal access.
“We should also encourage local production of rapid diagnostic test kits. Let me assure you that discussions are already ongoing on that.”
She said the global economic downturn has reduced the inflow of aid into the country, adding that many donor countries now have to grapple with national survival before attending to the needs of resource-poor countries.
Gbeneol said that before the global economic crisis, many developed countries did not keep the commitment of contributing 0.7 per cent of their GDP as Overseas Development Assistance to less developed states.
She noted that the recent global fund announcement not to go ahead with the next round meant that the country had to begin to explore other methods for financing HIV and AIDS care.
“Globally, there is a paucity of funding for health activities. This has led many countries to attract Private Finance Initiatives.
“We need to begin to put in place a policy framework that will encourage the corporate world and the big private multi-national companies to begin to take on funding HIV and AIDS as part of their corporate social responsibility.”
Gbeneol said practices such as tax break would encourage these companies to donate more for quality work in HIV and AIDS care.
Also speaking, Dr Mike Egboh, Programme Director of PATHS-2, a UK funded project for health system development in Nigeria, said for the country to have sustainable development, the system must work.
Egboh said HIV should be integrated into the health system and urged the government to strengthen the system. He urged government to identify the challenges facing HIV issues in the country in order to address it properly.
“Without identifying an issue, one cannot claim to be solving it.” NAN
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