Stakeholders in HIV/AIDS
response, have validated the 2011/2012 State AIDS Spending Assessment (SASA) report, presented to it by the Cross River State Agency for the Control of AIDS (CRSACA).
Reacting to the validation exercise, the Director General (DG), CRSACA, Dr. Mrs. Irene Aniyom, acknowledged that, it was the first time that stakeholders were gathered to validate the report cf AIDS spending in the State.
Aniyom who thanked participants for supporting the validation process maintained that, Cross River Stafe could now boast of a SASA document.
She observed however, that the funds expended by some lnternational Funding Agencies were not reported, hence their non-reflection in the SASA report.
The DG, said that the absence of the reports by some Civil SOciety Organizations (CSOs) and Implementing Partners in the SASA infers that their claim of expenditure was non-existent.
Presenting a brief overview of the State AIDS Spending Assessment, Mrs. Comfort Runyi Effiom of  Enhancing Nigeria’s Response to HIV and AIDS (ENR), said that SASA would present a basis for partners to restructure where necessary and plan strategically to achieve internationally accepted development goals and also for the State to set policies for enhanced and informed decisions to benefit the HIV/AIDS response.
Effiom disclosed that the instrument used for the assessment was a resource tracking software supported by United Nations Aid (UNAID) which according to her, could be used anywhere in the world.
Presenting an analysis of the findings in the SASA report, Mrs. Patience Uke of Cross River Agency for the Control of AIDS (CRSACA), stated that the total expenditure of participating organizations in the HIV and AIDS response for 2011, was Nine Hundred and Ninety Seven Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty Two United State Dollars, while One Million, Forty One Thousand and Twenty Eight US Dollars was expended in 2012.
Uke said the core spending for 2011 was on programmatic management and administration representing 72%, while the core spending for 2012 was on prevention, representing 96%.
She revealed from the findings also that the bulk of the funds for HIV and AIDS, came from International Partners with support from Government and the private sector adding, that less attention was paid to targeted interventions.
Uke said the SASA report recommended amongst other things the institutionalization of SASA, increased funding for Prevention Intervention, less attention to be paid to non-targeted interventions, and increased funding for key population such as people living with HIV AIDS and Government increased involvement.
Present at the SASA validation meeting were; representatives of Ministry of Health, Ministry of  Information, Cross River State Agency for the Control of AIDS (CRSACA), Enhancing Nigeria Response to HIV and AIDS, (ENR), Family Health International (FHI), 360, Civil Society Against AIDS in Nigeria (CISSAN),amongst others

Friday Nwagbara, Calabar