The HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria has concluded plans to raise N10 billion for response before the end of the year.
The organisation said its target is to ensure sustainable mobilisation of resources from the private sector to make significant contributions towards funding of HIV programmes across the federation, with focus on prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT).
The Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Jekwu Ozoemene, who spoke yesterday during a visit to his office by the UN Joint Team on AIDS (UNAIDS) in Lagos, regretted that in every 30 minutes, a child is born with HIV in the country, adding that in 2020, about 20,695 children, aged zero to nine years, were infected by the disease.
He pointed out that the trend has remained because the country had not been able to contain PMTCT.
Ozoemene said if the situation continues, the 130,000Â children currently infected with the ailment nationwide, would double over the next five years
He insisted that no child in Nigeria should be born with the illness and orphaned by it too.
Established in November 2020, the Lagos-based Fund is a $150 million private sector-led organisation, promoted by the Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDS (NiBUCAA) and National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).
Ozoemene said donations would help in providing ART for pregnant women and minimise chances of them transmitting the virus to unborn children.
According to him, to him, the Fund is devoted to financing strategic inputs such as anti-retroviral drugs, test kits, reagents, logistics and delivering these commodities to facilities where they are most needed nationwide.
He observed that Nigeria still have mother to child transmission of HIV because of unavailability of test kits, stigmatisation and patronage of traditional birth attendants.
Ozoemene promised that his organisation would not only raise funds, but must also ensure that every single pregnant woman in the country is screened for the infection.
