Africa has battled with health problems as long as one can remember, and have the highest mortality and morbidity rates in the world.
Access Bank has seen fit to partner with Friends of the Global Fund Africa (Friends Africa) to assist by raising funds and also host a high-class stakeholder Engagement Forum tagged: “Sustainable Health Financing in Nigeria” in Abuja.
Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the bank’s Group Managing Director, said this in a statement: “The bank is committed sustainably to the eradication of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This informed the initial donation of $1million to the Global Fund to fight this pandemic and the partnership of the Bank with Friends Africa to host the Sustainable Health Financing Forum in Nigeria.”
He certainly could not live out the fact that the Global Fund’s “Gift from Africa project” was initiated to “provide the African private sector with an opportunity to provide responsible leadership and demonstrate to the world that Africans are prepared to play an active part in solving the continent’s challenges.”
Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Mark Dybul, said donors failing to raise up funds to the desirable amount could lead to the defeat of the aim of reducing the death rate arising from these three diseases.
Friends Africa surely have their hearts fixed on financing of prevention and treatment of the AIDS virus and other global killers, which they intend to use the forum to urge top donors to provide an additional $15 billion to fight diseases crippling the continent over the next three years or risk reversing a decade of advances in care.