NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Nigeria on Tuesday launched a 62 billion naira ($149 million) fund to help fight HIV/AIDS, especially targeting the prevention of mother-to-child transmissions as foreign funding for such programmes was under strain due to focus on COVID-19.

Some two million Nigerians live with HIV/AIDS, while more than 22,000 mother-to-child transmission cases are reported annually, official data shows.

The HIV Trust Fund of Nigeria is being spearheaded by the country’s national AIDS agency and local businesses.

“Ending AIDS as a public health threat in Nigeria will require increased domestic funding,” President Muhammadu Buhari said at the launch of the fund also attended by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote.