PEPFAR - SUCCESS STORIES

Demand-Driven ART Service Delivery

March 29, 2007

One day in April 2006, 38 HIV/AIDS patients arrived on the doorstep of the Nigerian military’s Medical Centre in Abuja, seeking treatment from a program supported by the Department of Defense HIV Program in Nigeria (DODHPN).  They had traveled for four hours by bus from the state of Benue, which hosts Nigeria’s highest HIV prevalence but where no President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) treatment services were available.

The patients were part of a large support group whose members could not afford available ARV treatment at Government of Nigeria hospital in Benue.  Support group leader Ferdinand told DODHPN and clinic staff that word had spread to him of the service, by which military hospitals provide treatment and care free-of-cost to the general public.  Reacting to this news, Ferdinand had organized all 300 members of the group to board buses for the Medical Center over a two-week period.  Other groups had also heard the news, he added, and were making plans of their own to attend the clinic.

The clear need to establish services closer to these individuals required a rapid response.  DODHPN staff and the program’s dedicated Nigerian Military partners worked with stakeholders at all levels to find the most effective solution.

In June 2006, DODHPN established a new service at the 44 Nigerian Air Force Hospital in Makurdi, the capital of Benue.  A team of three Nigerian military medical staff was dispatched to assist in making the site operational and meet extensively with local support groups to ensure the planned service met their needs.  Both the Minister of State for Defence and the Governor of Benue lent political support to the inaugural program.  This facility now treats 273 patients.