The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has recognised the immense contributions of the Federal Government of Nigeria in tackling public health threats in the country, especially in the areas of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 prevention.
He commended Nigerian Government’s initiative in leveraging its partnership with the United States through the President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief (PEPFAR) to save over 20 million lives and transform the destinies of millions more.
Blinken, who made the remarks during his scheduled visit to the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) on Wednesday, lauded the visionary efforts of the management and staff of the institution, in building capacity through knowledge transfer, to younger scientists.
He said this was one of the strategies that enabled the country to overcome COVID-19, when supply chains were disrupted.
According to the US Secretary of State, the agreement between Nigeria and US through PEPFAR, has seen almost 8.3 billion dollars investment in the fight against HIV/AIDS, with over 1.6 million Nigerians accessing antiretroviral drug treatment.
He said: “The work that the United States and Nigeria have been doing together going back to the beginning, really, of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the extraordinary PEPFAR programme that President Bush established and that has continued under successive administrations in partnership with our friends here is getting us to the point where we can eliminate HIV and AIDS as a public health threat, and it has already saved well over 20 million lives and changed the lives of millions of other people.
“But what’s even more powerful about it is that because of our work and the platform that we established, when COVID hit, our friends here were able to use the PEPFAR platform to address the COVID challenge and do it so successfully. And even more, so much of the knowledge that they’ve built up over the years has allowed them to really take matters into their own hands and, for example, develop diagnostic kits right here.
“When supply chains were disrupted and it was hard to get things moving around the world, they took matters into their own hands. And that’s because one of the compelling things about working with others is that we transfer knowledge and expertise, and ultimately, that leads to our friends and partners developing their strong capacity to do things for themselves”.
Blinken further praised NIMR’s dual role as a research institution and clinic, that’s both treating people and also doing the research, developing new diagnostics, and contributing to not only the health security for Nigeria, but I think increasingly for countries in the region and ultimately for everyone else in the world.
He explained that this does not only underscore the importance of continuity of the PEPFAR programme, in saving more lives, dealing once and for all with HIV and AIDS, but also continuing to strengthen public health systems so that when the next epidemic comes along, which he was certain about, countries around the world will be much better place to deal with it quickly and effectively.
In his response, the Director General, NIMR, Professor Babatunde Salako, expressed gratitude to the visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his team for supporting the institute.
The NIMR DG, who was represented by Prof. Oliver Ezechi, during the visit also extended gratitude to his colleagues for keying into the management’s agenda to make the institute proud.
