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It was an evening of glitz, glamour, and merriment when the Board of Directors, management, staff, family members, friends, and beneficiaries of the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) gathered in Abuja to celebrate two decades of excellence in public health implementation, capacity building, and research. 

During the dinner, there were inspiring speeches, staff testimonials, award presentations to long-serving staff, games, and dancing. At the event, IHVN Chief Executive Officer,  Dr. Patrick Dakum recounted the Institute’s progress from its establishment in 2004 till date. 

“Over the years, we have provided HIV medications to more than 600,000 individuals, supported orphans and vulnerable children across the country, and restored hope for many living with HIV, including children. Some children who were born with HIV when we were established and at the point of death are now getting ready to be married.”

He said that IHVN has expanded its services to non-communicable diseases and has grown to host two centers, the Center for Public Health Implementation and the International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE).

IRCE Executive Director, Prof. Alash’le Abimiku stressed the importance of research and small beginnings and urged young researchers to keep dreaming. 

IHVN Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Dr Charles Olalekan Mensah also took guests down memory lane to trace the Institute’s achievements. 

IHVN is a leading non-governmental organization established in 2004 to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in Nigeria by developing infrastructure for treatment, care, prevention, and support for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. The Institute has expanded its services to other infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, and non-infectious diseases, including cancers. As a local organization, the Institute is structured to collaboratively develop and maintain linkages within and outside the country that support the Government of Nigeria’s health sector strategic plans. 

To ensure the provision of quality tuberculosis services in Lagos State, the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) has organized a program review meeting for medical directors of health facilities implementing the USAID Tuberculosis Local Organizations Network (TB LON 3) project in Lagos State.

About 30 medical directors and representatives from the Lagos State Ministry of Health attended the meeting which featured plenary discussions on challenges and strategies to improve out-patient screening optimization, childhood tuberculosis, drug-resistant tuberculosis, tuberculosis prevention therapy, treatment completion by patients, human resources for health and electronic medical record integration.

USAID TB LON 3 Lagos State Team Lead, Dr. Babajide Kadri welcomed participants to the meeting and enjoined all to work towards ensuring quality of care in their different facilities.

“The meeting is part of quality improvement initiative under the TB LON 3 project in Lagos state. It is also aimed at updating the medical directors on the TB implementation status in their facilities as well as getting feedback from them on the program. Key expectations from participants include, better ownership of TB program by the facility management, improvement in the quality of services provided to the patients,  improvement in project performance indicator and resolution of the programmatic and operational challenges affecting project implementation”, he said.

Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye stressed the need for patients to be involved in developing a joint treatment plan for tuberculosis.  

“We should adapt the program to the needs of the people, explain to them the next steps, and let them know when to start medication. This will make them committed to adherence to the medications.” He reiterated his commitment to supporting health facilities in the state to ensure efficient delivery of health services.

The Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) is set to establish a learning and development center for certified courses on public health. IHVN Chief Executive Officer, Dr Patrick Dakum stated this at a media parley in Abuja to mark the organization’s 20^th anniversary.

“Over the years we have come a long way. We have two centers, a public health implementation center and the International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE). We will partner with universities both locally and overseas to ensure that we have short-term and long-term trainings, “he said.

Dr. Dakum explained that the Institute is already offering short-term trainings which will be institutionalized and said that the center will explore certificate, diploma and masters courses that will contribute to public health. According to him, the training will incorporate both theory and practical sessions with treatment centers which the Institute is collaborating with.

“We will not be a university, but we will be a center that will host and participate in training. We will commence construction of the facility in October 2024. It will be a five-story building with a conference center that will seat 500 people. There will be halls, classrooms, meeting rooms, and a 70 to 100-room guest house attached to it,” he added.

The IHVN Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Dr. Charles Olalekan Mensah and Executive Director of the International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE) Prof. Alash’le Abimiku were also at the press briefing and responded to questions about the Institute’s activities.

Since its inception in 2004, IHVN has built the capacity of more than 50,000 healthcare providers to provide quality prevention, care, and treatment services as well as research and laboratory services.

The Institute is commemorating its 20^th anniversary with theme “Celebrating two decades of excellence in public health implementation, capacity building, and research.”

The Executive Director of the International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE) at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), Prof. Alash’le Abimiku has revealed that the Institute has joined the search for a HIV vaccine in partnership with organizations from eight countries.

Prof. Abimiku stated this at a press briefing to mark IHVN’s 20^th anniversary in Abuja.

“For 30 years, Nigeria has not been involved in vaccine research to ensure that the vaccine that finally comes out will be relevant to Nigeria. So IHVN for the first time has put Nigeria and the whole of West Africa on the map. This is a big breakthrough in ending a pandemic that has affected millions of people with a significant number of people on lifelong medications,” she said.

The IRCE Executive Director said that the Institute is currently sequencing the viruses that come from Nigeria and West Africa, Sub-type G, and CRF- O2 to ensure that those sequences are part of a vaccine construct. She noted that the research will go through different phases that may take five to ten years.

“We are at the initial stages of the project with funding from USAID for the first five years. We are designing the construct to make sure that it has sequences of our viruses, so that is the first step. Whatever we test must take into consideration the viruses existent in our country,” she added.

She explained that IRCE is involved in clinical trials to test new drugs and concepts.

“We have a clinical trials unit. This differentiates us from other NGOs.  This is why we can test candidate HIV vaccines and evaluate new platforms for diagnostics. Even during COVID, we tested if we could give individuals antibodies from other individuals that have recovered – individuals that were able to fight it.”

Prof. Abimiku said that IRCE’s vision is to tackle local challenges.

“It is not unusual that a lot of what we’ve done has focused on HIV, TB, malaria but we’ve also gone into non-communicable diseases that have been ravaging our population”

Also at the press briefing, IHVN Chief Executive Officer, Dr Patrick Dakum commended the media for partnering with the Institute to provide quality health services, capacity building, and research.

“Our celebration is mainly a celebration of life for the contributions that we have made. It is not just about the number of people we have provided services to, behind every number is a human being whose quality of life has improved,” he said.

IHVN Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Dr. Charles Olalekan Mensah stressed that the Institute’s achievements have been a result of partnerships and funding support of more than 300 million USD through grants from Global Fund, USAID, United States National Institutes of Health amongst other agencies.  

In fostering an excellent work culture and staff performance, the Executive Management of the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) has initiated the “Employee Recognition Awards” to recognise “Employees of the Month” and “Employee of the Year.”

According to the IHVN Director of Finance and Administration, Mr. Olu Alabi, this recognition covers overall employee performance in dressing, innovation, teamwork, productivity, efficiency, leadership & interpersonal skills, punctuality and adherence to company values and principles amongst others.

For September 2024, IHVN Celebrates, Clare Ohunayo, Emmanuella Emmanuel, Oluwayemisi Asiozi, Lem Kwem Imasuen, Oluwatoyin Awoyemi, Oluwakemi Akinyede, Elizabeth Ejura Ali, Johnbull Egharevba, Abdulmojeed Akande, Muhammed Usman, Lojah Pascal Nyam, Isaac Bakzak, Sanusi Abiodun, Rayi Oluwagbemi, Ebenezer Ajayi, Anderson Ricketts and Odola Oluwafemi, whose performance stood out in their teams.

Three hearty cheers to our September star performers!