Ogun moves to secure corporate funding for HIV/AIDS, other health challenges

Following the expiration of agreement reached with foreign donors, including the US, in 2010, that allowed the donors to reduce funds on HIV/AIDS and other health challenges in sub-Saharan African countries by 50 percent, the Ogun State government has started moves to ensure that corporate firms and investors operating in the state include such funds in their budgets annually.

According to Babatunde Ipaye, commissioner for health, joint funding of HIV/AIDS and other health challenges ‎within the state became necessary for both government and corporate firms working in the state since none of the stakeholders involved in the socio-economic sector of the state could operate perfectly if the whole state population were not healthy.

Speaking at a press conference organised to mark 2015 World AIDS Day in Abeokuta on Thursday, the commissioner said efforts were at final stage “to make an investment case for companies in Ogun State ‎in order to partner the government and jointly fund the control of HIV/AIDS and other health challenges in the state.”

Ipaye, who had earlier worked as one of the leading consultants at the national level on HIV/AIDS, noted that ‎that the country, having aware that big foreign donors would back out from HIV/AIDS funding in 2015, had developed strategies to make up for the shortfall envisaged, adding that part of the strategies devised, was making case for corporate organisations to partner government for funding and effective control of the scourge.

“What we need to do is to make an investment a case for companies in Ogun State. We need to let them (investors) know that if they invest in healthy population, including indigenes and residents, they will also work and live with healthy workers in their factories”, he said.

He also said that Ogun State government had been able to control prevalence of HIV/AIDS from 3.7 percent to 0.6 percent, but the State government, through the Ministry of Health, ‎would do more on HIV/AIDS control by upgrading 40 Primary Healthcare centres across 20 Local Councils dedicated to the treatment and control of HIV/AIDS, even at the rural areas, adding: “In the Budget of 2016, we also have our fair share of the fiscal estimates for HIV/AIDS.”