The Federal Government and Global Fund (GF) have signed a mutual agreement to commit $71, 216, 215 to the fight against HIV/AIDS,Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Global Fund had before now, committed over $245 million to tuberculosis control response in Nigeria since the inception of GF support to TB in 2005.
The financial and logistics commitment was in addition to other efforts put in by various stakeholders to control the spread of TB epidemic in Nigeria for the period of 2019- 2020.
A statement from the Federal Ministry of Health , yesterday, indicated that the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, signed the agreement on behalf of the federal government while the Head of Grant Management, Global Fund, Mark Edington, led his officials to the event which took place at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
Ehanire observed in his remarks that the 2018 WHO global tuberculosis report indicated that tuberculosis has taken over from HIV/AIDS as the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent.
He added that tuberculosis has turned many children to orphans, taken many bread winners away, with severe consequences on the economy of families and also, on Nigeria’s economy; demanding an end to the trend.
He confessed that over the years, the National Tuberculosis Control Programme (NTBLCP), through the support of several partners including the World Health Organisation, Global Fund has made giant strides in the control of tuberculosis in the area of policy development, capacity-building, expansion of services and provision of quality care, while addressing the need of vulnerable groups and the key populations.