The Renaissance Care and Empowerment Foundation (RECEF) has called for stronger collaboration among civil society organisations and relevant stakeholders to address shortages of HIV testing kits and other essential commodities in primary healthcare facilities across Kogi State.
The call was made during an advocacy visit by RECEF to the North Central coordinator of the Civil Society for HIV and AIDS in Nigeria (CISHAN), Hamza Aliyu, as part of efforts to strengthen community-led monitoring and accountability in the delivery of HIV services.
Presenting the advocacy brief, Whitney Ekoriko of RECEF said the organisation was implementing the Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) project in Kogi State under the National TB/HIV Reach Impact Project (N-THRIP), funded through Global Fund Grant Cycle 7 and implemented through the Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN).
She explained that the CLM project provides a platform for communities and healthcare providers to identify, document and escalate barriers affecting the availability, accessibility and quality of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria services.
According to her, the Q11 supportive supervisory visits conducted across selected service delivery points in Adavi Local Government Area revealed significant gaps in the availability of HIV commodities.
She listed PHC Inoziomi as experiencing stock-outs of HIV test kits and other commodities, resulting in clients being referred to distant facilities for testing, while MPHC Ozuri had limited availability of HIV test kits.
Ekoriko added that PHC Utohu and MPHC Oziokutu also reported stock-outs of HIV test kits and commodities, stressing that the situation could affect uninterrupted HIV testing and prevention services.
She said the CLM findings underscored the need for sustained attention to the availability of essential HIV commodities across primary healthcare facilities providing HIV services.
She therefore urged CISHAN to partner with the CLM project in advocating uninterrupted availability of HIV test kits and preventive commodities, as well as support engagement with implementing partners and supply-chain stakeholders to address the identified gaps.
She noted emphatically that RECEF partnership and Collaboration with CiSHAN and other relevant thematic networks is the core sustainability strategy to sustain engagement long after Global Fund Grant Cycle 7 comes to an end by December, 2026.
Responding, the North Central coordinator of CISHAN, Hamza Aliyu, promised closer collaboration with RECEF to engage relevant government authorities and stakeholders to ensure the availability of HIV/AIDS commodities for patients in primary healthcare centres across the state.
Aliyu noted that the prevalence of HIV and other diseases remained a concern, stressing the need for stakeholders to intensify efforts aimed at reducing their impact on communities.
Also speaking, the acting Kogi State coordinator of CISHAN, Ambassador Idris Ozovehe Muraina, called for increased engagement and collaboration among stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
He said stronger partnerships among civil society organisations, government agencies, implementing partners and communities would help ensure that identified gaps in HIV service delivery were promptly addressed.
The collaboration, according to RECEF, is expected to strengthen civil society advocacy and accountability around HIV commodity availability, facilitate timely response to identified shortages and improve access to uninterrupted HIV testing and prevention services across primary healthcare facilities in Kogi State.