IHVN Develops Infrastructure to Treat Persons Living with HIV/AIDS
The Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN) has said that it has addressed the Human Immunodeficiency Virus/ Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) crisis in Nigeria by developing infrastructure for treatment, care, prevention, and support for people living with HIV/AIDS.
The institute said that it has also provided counselling and testing to over 15 million individuals for HIV and over 3.7 million pregnant women, who have been tested while over half a million people have been placed on anti-retroviral therapy (ART).
Chief Executive Officer, IHVN, Dr. Patrick Dakum, disclosed this, yesterday, while speaking on the proposed commissioning of the N8b IHVN Campus, which will take place on Tuesday in Abuja.
He noted that the institute had expanded its services to cover other communicable and non-communicable diseases, such as Tuberculosis (TB), malaria, cancer, COVID-19, and other emerging diseases.
He revealed that 20,000 children were initiated on ART while IHVN also provided TB treatment to more than 49,000 clients.
He stated that from 2019 – 2022, IHVN has engaged 24,445 private healthcare providers, including 497 faith-based organisations, 2,743 private-for-profit organizations, 203 private laboratories, and 14,196 community pharmacies and patent medicine dealerships to provide tuberculosis services.
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He said: “So far, IHVN has provided support to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV, through treatment care and support; empowerment of healthcare workers through training; equipping and strengthening laboratory capacity in-country; increasing access and utilisation of basic nutrition services by pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls and children under five in nine local councils of Kano State; contributing in reducing the burden of TB by complementing and accelerating the ongoing activities implemented by the Nigerian government and other implementing partners that it is collaborating with. IHVN is also involved in curbing gender-based violence and support for orphans and vulnerable children.
The IHVN’s key technical and funding partners include the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’.
Dakum noted that to create an enabling environment to facilitate research activities that bridge international and Nigerian researchers, IHVN established IRCE to promote public/private partnerships for quality health services.
He said that the conception of the building, and commissioning of the IHVN Campus remain a bold step to providing state–of the–art platform for building capacity, implementation, and research at standards that are globally recognised for Nigeria and Africa.
He said: “We are becoming convinced that the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 3, which focuses on having healthy communities, can only be achieved with effective Global and Local Partnerships, and this campus seeks to promote this as its contribution to these efforts in Nigeria and beyond.’’
