Building a Successful Military-to-Military Partnership through Confronting HIV: The U.S-Nigeria Experience

Title:Building a Successful Military-to-Military Partnership through Confronting HIV: The U.S-Nigeria Experience

Volume: 15 Issue: 3

Author(s): Darrell E. Singer*, Lindsay Hughes, Robbie Nelson , Colin M. Smith, Tahir O. Umar and Ogbonnaya S. Njoku

Affiliation:

• Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD 20814,United States

Keywords: Diplomacy, HIV, military partnership, PEPFAR, ownership, research, responsibility, sustainability.

Abstract: Background: The Nigerian Ministry of Defence-Walter Reed Army Institute of Research partnership was established in 2004 in response to the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in Nigeria.

Methods: Here we discuss the emergence of HIV in Nigeria, highlighting the initial barriers to treatment delivery, and outline the origins of the international military-to-military partnership developed to confront the disease.

Results: With financial support from the United States President’s Plan for AIDS Relief and Nigerian Government Counterpart Funding, we demonstrate how this program led to a successful and sustainable response in the fight against HIV in Nigeria. We detail the continued value of this collaboration in the form of sustainable treatment platforms, prevention strategies, and research projects, and explore the factors which strengthened, and hindered these efforts.

Conclusion: The program is a model framework for international military health partnership based on the principles of shared responsibility, country ownership and goal attainment.

Cite this article as:

Singer E. Darrell*, Hughes Lindsay, Nelson Robbie, Smith M. Colin, Umar O. Tahir and Njoku S. Ogbonnaya, Building a Successful Military-to-Military Partnership through Confronting HIV: The U.S-Nigeria Experience, Current HIV Research 2017; 15 (3) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570162X15666170517122459

DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570162X15666170517122459	Print ISSN 1570-162X
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher	Online ISSN 1873-4251