The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Adeleke Mamora, has described establishing the National HIV Clinical Mentorship Programme (NCMP) as a significant landmark achievement for the HIV response in Nigeria.
He said that the programme would help build capacity and support HIV treatment and care service providers in an integrated approach.
Mamora made the statement at the formal launch of the United States Government-supported programme in Abuja, recently.
The minister also stated that the Nigeria HIV response had grown significantly in the last five years and that the past two years have perhaps been the most remarkable because of the resilience shown by the programme despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With over 1.6million people living with HIV on treatment, the country is firmly on the path to achieve epidemic control.
According to Mamora, the HIV Mentorship Programme is coming at an excellent moment, “a time when the prospect of achieving epidemic control has become a reality and a central part of the discourse.”
After epidemic control is achieved, transitioning to a chronic HIV health care model will require PLHIVs to engage with the health care system in an ongoing relationship for the long term.
Earlier, the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, had said achieving and sustaining HIV epidemic control has been the end goal since the U.S.-Nigerian partnership on HIV began and this mentorship program will strengthen government ownership of the HIV programme – at both national and state levels – thus safeguarding sustained long-term epidemic control of HIV.
“In addition, this programme will provide an opportunity for healthcare workers to receive practical training while providing HIV services, using the tried, true and tested methods of continuous quality improvement in line with the current Nigeria HIV national guidelines”, she said.
She said that by building local healthcare workers’ clinical and programmatic capacity over time, the U.S. Government supports developing a workforce that can lead, manage, and monitor the HIV/AIDS response from within its healthcare system.
“To date, we have supported the recruitment, training, and deployment of 19 national mentors to specific facilities across Nigeria, with another 46 state-level clinical mentors soon to be deployed”.
Leonard said the programme aligns with the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) key priority of strengthening the core capabilities of partner governments to autonomously lead, manage and monitor their own HIV response in an effective, equitable, and enduring manner.
The NCMP is implemented by Nigeria’s Ministry of Health through the National AIDS and STI Control Programme (NASCP) with support from the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC).
The programme will deploy National and State Clinical Mentors to support health workers at facility and community levels through several mechanisms, including site visits, case discussions, and virtual platforms.
Highlights of the launch included goodwill messages from the Global Fund, UNAIDS, NEPHWAN, and other stakeholders in the HIV response.
In addition, the program Logo and the Nigeria HIV Clinical Mentorship Programme Guidelines were unveiled.