By Asma’u Ahmad
The Federal Ministry of Health says Global Fund will disburse about $1 billion to assist Nigeria to combat HIV, Malaria and TB over a period of two years.
The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, said the intervention period was between 2015 and 2017.
Professor Adewole made this known at the National Supply Chain Integration Project Retreat in Abuja.
He said that about 50 per cent of the amount would be expended on the procurement of commodities.
According to him, this investment will significantly put serious pressure on our fragile supply chain infrastructure in the country.
“We need to fashion out innovative approaches that will prevent our perennial challenges of commodity wastages, expiries and stock outs as well poor delivery system to end-users of such commodities,’’ Adewole said.
The minister said the Nigeria Supply Chain Integration Project (NSCIP) was initiated by the Government and a consortium of international donors and partners to address these constraints and inefficiencies.
He added that the project would also bridge the gaps and maintain uninterrupted supply system in the country.
He said the goal of the project was to improve harmonisation of resources for better efficiency in procurement and supply management of medicines and other health products through an integrated supply-chain management system.
Adewole said the implementation strategies of NSCIP include the establishment of zonal hubs (warehouses) operated under a public private partnership (PPP) covering all HIV, Malaria, TB and Reproductive Health related commodities and vaccines, among others
“At the moment, NSCIP is currently covering; Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Cross River, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Nasarawa, Oyo, Rivers and Sokoto states.
“I am happy to inform this gathering that the success recorded in the first year of the project prompted our funders to give approval to scale-up to the remaining 23 states. We achieved all our milestones in less than 18 months before the targeted three year plan,” he said.
