United States supports Nigeria with $500m to fight HIV/AIDS

United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Terence McCulley, has said his country had supported Nigeria with a grant of 500 million dollars in the fight against HIV/AIDS and other related diseases since 2005.

McCulley said this at the inauguration of the Defence Reference Laboratory (DRL) by the Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada, at the Mogadishu Cantonment.

He said the laboratory, which is the first of its kind in the sub-region, was funded from the grant.

“The Reference Laboratory Programme is part of our $500m assistance to Nigeria since 2005 when the partnership began between US Department of Defence and your Ministry of Defence.

“The partnership between US Department of Defence and Nigeria’s Ministry of Defence through the Walter Reed Programme (WRP-N) and the Emergency Plan Implementation Committee (EPIC) has grown strong,’’ he said.

MCculley said the partnership was evident by the inauguration of a world-class DRL.

According to him, the DRL was a critical piece for health care, enabling world-class diagnostic and laboratory monitoring services for military personnel and civilian population living in the surrounding communities.

He said the DRL would continue to grow, improve health care for the community it served and become a centre for excellence in Nigeria and West Africa sub-region.