LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)- Akwa Ibom State is set to strengthen its healthcare system following the immediate release of the 2025 counterfunding for health-related programs, Governor Umo Eno has approved.
The funding, aimed at enhancing key services across the state, covers health insurance, primary healthcare, immunization, family planning, and nutrition.
State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Ekem John, shared the update in Uyo during a ministerial briefing at the Ministry of Health’s conference room on Thursday.
“His Excellency Governor Umo Eno, yesterday not only approved but also signed that counterpart funding be released before the end of January 2026 for all our programs. So, immunization, family planning, nutrition, and health insurance are all covered by that funding, and this year, we are ready to work on these areas,” John said.
The commissioner highlighted several policy reforms implemented over the past year, focusing on infrastructure improvements, staff welfare, training, and enhanced service delivery to achieve better health outcomes.
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He also reported progress in specific disease control initiatives. In the fight against Leprosy and Tuberculosis (TB), Akwa Ibom has recorded significant progress.
“If you look at the TB indices, Akwa Ibom is doing very well; last year alone, we commissioned five portable X-ray machines with the support of the Global Fund. All suspected TB patients in the health facilities where these machines are installed are to have their X-rays free of charge,” Dr. John explained.
The commissioner acknowledged mixed results in HIV/AIDS management, noting improvements in data reporting.
In Dr. John’s words, “For HIV/AIDS, this is one place where we have not done too well, but in terms of reporting, there has been an improvement. There are now about 168,000 persons living with HIV/AIDS who have been identified in Akwa Ibom State. This is progress because it’s down from over 200,000, which it was before. Two reasons accounted for this: the first is that some people did double-counting in order to get anti-retroviral drugs, so some registered in Eket and still registered in other places again. But we have been able to do an audit, and we arrive at that figure. It’s a good score that 99% of those who have HIV actually know that they have HIV. One of the challenges is that those who have HIV do not even know that they have it.”
With the early release of funding and ongoing reforms, Akwa Ibom is poised to expand access to essential healthcare services while addressing critical public health challenges.
