The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, has said that the federal government is working round the clock to employ 28, 000 USAID health workers whose salaries were previously paid by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Speaking on Channels Television, Pate said the move is in line with the government’s plans to absorb the health workers into the country’s healthcare system and reduce reliance on foreign aid.
The minister maintained that Nigeria is determined to take ownership of its healthcare sector and reduce its dependence on external aid, while acknowledging the significant contribution of the US government to Nigeria’s healthcare sector, particularly in the areas of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
He said that “quality healthcare is not cheap. We, as a country, have not invested in it yet, and we are asking for the highest quality healthcare. Domestically, we have not invested. We have seen things change in the last 18 months with deliberate efforts to improve investments and to allocate investments to where it matters — the foundation.
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“Can you believe that more than 70 percent of our drugs, we import them with foreign exchange that we don’t have? We are a capable country, and we are determined to own up to that responsibility. If others step in and support us, we appreciate it, but we are not begging.
“There are health workers, 28, 000 of them, who are being paid through US government support. While it has been appreciated, these health workers are Nigerians, and we have to transition them. Our approach, long before the change in US policy, has been to increase national ownership.”
US President Donald Trump had ordered a funding pause for HIV treatment in developing countries as part of an executive order on foreign aid. The executive orders also affected the operations of USAID and other foreign interventions of the US government.
Consequently, the US Department of State suspended the disbursement of funds from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
PEPFAR is providing HIV treatment for more than 20 million people living with the disease in Nigeria and globally, including 566, 000 children under 15 years of age.
However, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, in a statement, said the US government approved a waiver that allowed people living with HIV to continue accessing treatment.
Recall that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) recently approved an allocation of N4.5 billion for the procurement of HIV treatment packs to support Nigerians living with HIV/AIDS.
