Oyo State Programme Officer for the RSSH C19-RM project, Mr. Oluseun Adebiyi, has said that to fill the gaps in HIV, TB, and malaria services in Oyo State, especially at the local level, it is critical to upgrade all primary health centers (PHC) to comprehensive sites.
Speaking during a media roundtable of the RSSH C19-RM project conference in Ibadan, Adebiyi stated that improving the PHCs will increase access to comprehensive centres’ more extended services, especially for HIV and TB, to control these diseases at the local level.
“All the gains and the resources that have been committed to the HIV response by the states can go down as a result of these primary health centres not being turned into comprehensive sites,” he added.
The RSSH C19-RM project is being implemented by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), utilising a combination of networks, including the Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), the Civil Society for Malaria Control, Immunisation, and Nutrition (ACOMIN), and TB networks, with NEPWHAN taking the lead among other community-based organisations (CBOs).
From January to June 2025, activities by the CBOs included the renovation of the Oniyere/Tafa PHC fence by the community through the intervention of the Royal Health Heritage Foundation, as well as the support of the Centre for Life Support and Family Counselling Centre to institute three shifts and night duty at Erunmu PHC at Egbeda LGA and Ifesowopo PHC at Ibadan North East LGA, respectively.
Mr Adebiyi added, “Government should further engage the community stakeholders in achieving more results at the PHCs in a bid to pool resources together through community engagements.
“There is a need to ensure that gains made on HIV control do not relapse through contributing more resources to the response at the PHC level; procurement and availability of RDTs for malaria and HIV are very important.”
He called for the scaling up of the RSSH C19-RM initiative to more PHCs and the accountability of all health professionals for the services they provide to ensure that COVID-19, HIV, TB, malaria, and other services are accessible and effective enough for everyone in the community.
Oyo State coordinator for the Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Mr Faith Olawale, said the break in the implementation of the RSSH C19-RM project is bringing relapse on gains previously achieved across the 5 LGAs where the project is being implemented.
Olawale, who is also the RSSH C19-RM project manager, said that there were also lost opportunities that may have been accomplished had the project not been halted at some point.
“The fund has reduced drastically. There has been a significant reduction in the number of activities. For example, the number of mentee mothers working with our pregnant women in the community has decreased.
“They provide peer support and guidance to other pregnant women living with HIV. They help these women stay on treatment, follow their prescription regimens, attend appointments, and navigate the healthcare system.
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