NACA and Global Fund to Hold Meeting on COVID-19 Investments in Nigeria

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) is teaming up with the Global Fund and important partners for a national meeting on 25 June. This meeting will look at what has been achieved, lessons learned, and the lasting impact of the COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) investments in Nigeria.

The meeting will take place in Abuja. It will gather people from the Federal Ministry of Health, state governments, development partners, civil society organisations, healthcare workers, and others who helped carry out the C19RM grant from 2021 to 2025.

The Global Fund set up the COVID-19 Response Mechanism to help countries deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. It also aimed to strengthen health systems and protect progress against HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. In Nigeria, this investment helped improve many areas, like disease surveillance, laboratory systems, infection prevention, oxygen supply, cold-chain systems, healthcare worker training, and emergency response.

Temitope Ilori, the Director-General of NACA, said, "We learned through COVID-19 that being prepared for one emergency isn’t just about that emergency, it’s about being prepared for any emergency."

Ilori added, "C19RM investments in emergency response mechanisms, supply chain resilience, and rapid deployment capacity are now embedded in our health systems planning and programming."

This close-out meeting will highlight key successes from the grant. It will also look at lessons learned, showcase innovations, and discuss how to keep the benefits gained from the investment.

The event will include presentations from agencies and partners, reflections from stakeholders, panel discussions, and the showing of documentaries and stories that highlight the human impact of the C19RM investment across Nigeria.

Tajudeen Ibrahim, the executive secretary of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) Nigeria, stated, "The C19RM grant demonstrated the power of effective partnership, positioning, coordination, engagement, oversight, and country ownership in responding to a public health emergency."

Ibrahim added, "Beyond supporting Nigeria’s COVID-19 response, the investments have strengthened critical health systems and created pandemic preparedness capacities that will continue to benefit the country for years to come. As we close this chapter, our focus must remain on sustaining these gains and using the lessons learned to build a more resilient health system for all Nigerians."

As the event approaches, stakeholders mentioned that this close-out meeting is a chance to celebrate achievements. It is also a way to strengthen the commitment to building health systems that can handle future public health emergencies.

While Nigeria works to improve its health security, the lessons and investments from the COVID-19 Response Mechanism will be a key foundation for future preparedness, disease control, and health system resilience.

The close-out meeting is expected to attract senior government officials, development partners, public health experts, implementing organisations, and community representatives who benefited from the intervention.

Attendance at this meeting is by invitation only. It will include representatives from government institutions, development partners, implementing organisations, civil society, academia, and other key stakeholders involved in the C19RM grant.

For those who cannot attend in person, members of the public and interested stakeholders are encouraged to join the event online through the livestream.