[afro-nets] Interview with Babatunde Osotimehin

[A. Odutola <chpss_abo2@yahoo.com>]

Interview with Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, Chairman, Na-
tional Action Committee on AIDS (NACA), Nigeria at ICASA 2005
-------------------------------------------------------------

December 4, 2005

Professor Osotimehin was sited at the accreditation point and
was cornered by Jafar Danesi and some other reporter for a brief
interview. The following is an excerpt from the interview.

Jafar: Sir I commend you for the great effort in putting this
programme together. In very specific term, what will ICASA
achieve for this country?

Osotimehin: This will increase the visibility about HIV/AIDS in
the country and Africa. It will boost our response to the pan-
demic. ICASA is going to give us the opportunity to showcase our
work, our policies; it will create a forum for discussion with
our colleagues from other parts of the world. It will provide an
opportunity to learn from the experiences of other countries
that have stepped up treatment. It will further encourage col-
laboration on the Africa continent. It will also affect the is-
sue of stigmatization. Many people will understand that it is
bad to stigmatized people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).

Jafar: What is the significance of this year's slogan, "Stop
AIDS, Keep the Promise"?

Osotimehin: We hope to bring greater visibility to the issue of
women and girls. We are also going to promote the Heart-to-Heart
Voluntary Counseling and Testing in the country.

Jafar: But are you sure that countries like Nigeria will be able
to keep the promise against the backdrop that the Global Funds
is currently threatening to stop funding for Nigeria's AIDS Pro-
grammes? What does this portends to the country?

Osotimehin: The Global fund said we did not meet the target and
that we did not spend enough in the period under review. We are
supposed to have spent 80%. In our response we have to tell them
that we have problems when we started, because the scheme was
new to us, so we did not get the procurement plan in time to be-
gin the purchase of drugs so as to distribute to patients. At
present we have 7000 people who are on drug.

Jafar: There is disparities in the prices of antiretroviral
drugs in Nigeria, why is this so?

Osotimehin: Because of the source of the drugs. Those that cost
N1000 are from the government's subsidized treatment scheme,
while those that cost higher are from other sources. The plan is
to rapidly ensure that drugs are available for free. We are
working towards that.

Jafar: How would you describe the funds allocated to HIV/AIDS in
Nigeria?

Osotimehin: It is grossly inadequate, even though some people
talk about a lot of funds. The amount of work that we have to do
against the amount of resources; how much will be needed to
place 250,000 people on treatment? Our recording is that each
patient will cost $750 dollar a year if you multiply that you
will agree with me that the resources at our disposal for treat-
ment, monitoring and evaluation is inadequate talk less of other
prevention, work we have to do.

By Jafar Danesi, Executive Director, Centre for Enlightenment
and Development Intervention (CEDI) and DLHA Volunteer Corre-
spondent at XIV ICASA 2005, in Abuja, Nigeria

To review more exclusive up-to-date DLHA daily reports of events
and happenings at ICASA 2005, visit:
http://www.datelinehealth-africa.net/betav1.0/infocus/detailinfocus.asp?infocus_id=177

Please share with your friends, associates and network members.


Thank you,

A. Odutola
mailto:chpss_abo2@yahoo.com