18th January, 2020
Minister of State for Health, Sen. Adeleke Mamora, emphasised on three pillars of trust, confidence and accountability for effective coordination and delivery of Global Fund (GF) in the country.
Mamora emphasised these pillars at a 3-day annual retreat of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) for Global Fund on Friday in Abuja.
CCM Nigeria, the custodian of GF grant, is a body of representative of Government, Bilateral and Multilateral organisation, Civil Society Organisations, Patients, Community, Private Sector and Academia.
The mandate of CCM is to oversee the delivery of Global Fund HIV, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Resilient Sustainable Systems for Health (RSSH) grant.
The minister, however, told the stakeholders that if they could be trusted, inspired confidence in the process and if they demonstrated accountability in their duties, the Fund would be delivered effectively.
“The issue is that the outcome of the delivery of the coordination will depend on the input.
“We must be careful when we think we are making progress and we are not.
“Why we complain about medical tourism, forgetting that in the 50s and 60s, people were coming to Nigeria for medical care.
“So, what has happened, we need to address the issues; let us define what works for us and do it to get results,’’ he said.
In his presentation on Tuberculosis (TB), Dr Emperor Ubochioma, Programme Management Unit Team Leader for Global Fund TB Grant, said without the GenExpert machine, TB diagnosis would be a mirage.
Also speaking, Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, emphasised the need for accountability of every Fund to encourage more global support.
The Executive secretary of CCM Nigeria, Mr Dozie Ezechukwu, in his reaction, said the mechanism was ready to be more transparent.
Ezechukwu said some measures had been put in place to checkmate the use of the Fund and ensure the effective delivery of the grant to address the burden of the three diseases in the country.
Similarly, other stakeholders spoke on strengthening partnership and accountability to achieve results in the implementation of Global Fund grant for the three diseases.
Even though some level of progress had been made in the control and treatment of the diseases, a huge gap does exist, especially from the country’s financial component to complement GF grant.
These, according to principle recipients and sub-recipients of GF grant in Nigeria, had rubbed off on proper implementation and tackling of the three diseases headlong.
Some of the gaps identified included how to place all the persons with HIV on treatment, the ineffectiveness of GenExpert Machines used for TB diagnosis, and identifying large number of missing TB cases.
Others were expanding malaria prevention beyond net distribution, optimising prevention of mother to child transmission and increasing HIV testing among the population.
The meeting deliberated on the 89.1 million dollars grant request proposal for the three diseases from 2021 to 2023, NAN reports.
The annual meeting is an avenue to deliberate on CCM operations for the year and grant performance, identify challenges and proffer solutions.
The meeting also provided an opportunity for the CCM to address emerging issues of importance.