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Dr. Agomoh Princess Orieji a keynote speaker during a one-day summit in Umuahia, the state capital, says the greatest challenge facing the fight against infections diseases in Nigeria is the decline in external donor support.
She disclosed this during a one-day infectious disease summit organized by the Abia State Ministry of Health, in collaboration with National AIDS, Viral Hepatitis and STIs control program and Trinity healthcare.
According to her, programmes for HIV, TB, Malaria and other disease areas of importance are confronted with critical financing gaps and called for urgent mobilisation of domestic resources.
Dr Orieji, who is the the Director of Public Health and Disease Control, Abia State Ministry of Health, decried the gradual withdrawal of funding by the United States and the scaling down of financial support by other global partners.
She said, “We also know that Nigeria is a double burden country, therefore beyond infectious diseases, we are also battling the rising tide of non-communicable diseases like Hypertension, Diabetes and cancers.
“We must look inward for sustainable solutions to ensure that our interventions reach the communities that need them most”, the Keynote Speaker said.
Speaking while welcoming participants from 36 States and other partners, Abia State Commissioner for Health, Professor Enoch Uche stated that the administration of Governor Alex Otti is improving access to quality healthcare for all Abia people.
He solicited deep-dive collaboration in effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases using available options that are evidence-based and affordable.
Correspondent reports that the summit ended with participants pledging to synergise to end infectious diseases, collaboration against HIV, Viral Hepatitis, Syphilis and and Malaria in Abia State.
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