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Picture above: L-R IHVN Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Dr Charles Olalekan Mensah; IHVN Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Patrick Dakum; Representative of IHVN Board Chair, Prof Emeritus Umaru Shehu, his son, Mr. Mahumud Shehu; IHVN Co-Founder, Prof William Blattner; Board Director Sir Steve Omojafor; US Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Ralph Olson; USCDC Country Director, Dr Mary Boyd and Executive Director International Research Center of Excellence, Prof Alash’le Abimiku cutting the commissioning cake.

The United States Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, Rolf Olson, has commended the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) for its years of commitment in improving the health of Nigerians.
Mr Olson said this during the official commissioning of the IHVN Campus consisting of a seven- story twin tower in Abuja. “The work you do here not only protects the health of the people of Nigeria but people around the region,” he said.

He re-iterated the US government’s commitment towards impacting the health of Nigerians in a positive way, strengthening health security and establishing Nigeria as a leader in public health science.

“The US government’s current sub-Saharan Africa strategy reiterates our commitment to health security in the region, and through our agencies like CDC, we are able to work toward the vision of a world where people live healthier, safer, and longer lives. CDC’s mission is to protect and improve health globally through science, policy, partnership, and evidence based public health action. These actions, driven by science and data, are a core component of the US government’s global health diplomacy efforts in Nigeria,” he added.

Picture above: Board Director Sir Steve Omojafor, officially opening the IHVN Campus, a seven story twin tower in Abuja; he is flanked to the left by USCDC Country Director, Dr. Mary Boyd, IRCE Executive Director, Prof. Alash’le Abimiku and Board Director Ms Josephine Tapgun; to the right are, Board Director, Dr. Umaru Mutallab, IHVN Co-founder and His Wife Prof William Blattner & Mrs Diane Blattner, Board Director, Mr. Foluso Phillips and IHVN CEO, Dr. Patrick Dakum.

Also at the event, IHVN Board Chair, Prof Emeritus Umaru Shehu, said that the commissioning of the IHVN Campus gives hope that, “we can curb today’s emerging diseases of public health concern.
The Board Chair whose speech was delivered by Board Director, Sir Steve Omojafor, said that the campus facilities would inspire young scientists to develop and execute research projects under the mentorship of more experienced investigators.

“I predict that with facilities such as the ones you find on this campus, Nigeria will soon become the destination for medical tourism, clinical diagnostics, treatment and care for people with infectious and non-infectious diseases.”

The campus has a biorepository with liquid nitrogen facilities, a genomic resource center, clinical pathology, molecular diagnostics, chemistry &hematology, and microbiology laboratories as well as a Clinical Trials Unit
According to IHVN Chief Executive Officer, Dr Patrick Dakum, these facilities ”will be a home for conducting clinical trials that specifically state how vaccines or drugs work in our population and the adverse effects observed.”

The event was witnessed by guests from the University of Maryland Baltimore, Co-founder of IHVN, Prof. William Blattner, representatives of government agencies, implementing partners, beneficiaries of projects, the private sector, public health experts, media amongst others.

Picture above: IHVN Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Patrick Dakum, addressing journalists flanked by Executive Director of the International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE), Prof. Alash’le Abimiku and IHVN Chief Operating Officer/Managing Director, Dr. Charles Olalekan Mensah.

The Chief Executive Officer of Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), Dr. Patrick Dakum, has said that the Institute’s seven story towers in Abuja will provide a platform for global and local partnerships to combat diseases.
Dr Dakum stated this at a press briefing in Abuja to announce the commissioning of the IHVN Campus scheduled to hold on June 5th and 6th, 2023.
“For over 19 years since our establishment as a non-governmental organization, we have addressed the HIV crisis in Nigeria by developing infrastructure for treatment, care, prevention, and support for people living with HIV/AIDS. We have over time expanded our services to cover other communicable and non-communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, cancer, COVID-19 and other emerging diseases. In 2015, we established the International Research Center of Excellence to promote public/private partnerships for quality health services, capacity building and research in West Africa.”
Also speaking at the event, the Executive Director of the Institute’s International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE), Prof. Alash’le Abimiku, said that IRCE has conducted targeted research relevant to the challenges faced locally.
“The research we do must inform better management of diseases in the populations we serve. First of all, we have to understand the peculiarities of these diseases within the population. Through our Clinical Trial Unit, we can conduct clinical trials that specifically state how vaccines or drugs work in our population and the adverse effects observed. That information goes to policy makers and the government,” she said.
She added that IRCE is also supporting the government in the areas of epidemic preparedness. “Some of the research that we have done and are still doing just like in Long-COVID is to understand how we react to pandemics so that we are better prepared for the next pandemic.”
The IHVN Campus hosts laboratories including a bio-repository to collect, process and store samples for research.
IHVN Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Dr. Charles Olalekan Mensah added that with the first phase of the campus completed, the Institute is working towards completion of the second and third phase, which includes a multi-level car park, conference center and residential hotel.

To mark the 2023 Childhood Tuberculosis National Testing Week, the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) has provided free integrated health screening in schools, orphanages, destitute homes and correctional centers in Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Lagos States.
The awareness and screening activity was held in communities as well as immunization and nutrition clinics in both public and private health facilities. More than 40,000 children were screened, out of which 105 children with tuberculosis were identified and linked to care.
IHVN Chief of Party, USAID TB-LON 3 project, Dr. Aderonke Agbaje, said that the focus on children during the testing week is because, “Children are change agents and should be engaged in the fight against tuberculosis.”
In preparation for the week, the Institute had partnered with Breakthrough ACTION Nigeria to educate health reporters about tuberculosis and the need for improved awareness about the disease.
Low index of suspicion amongst mothers and child caregivers remains a major risk factor to the diagnosis and treatment of childhood TB. The TB-LON 3 School Health Club launch is one of the Institute’s responses to increase TB awareness amongst this cohort. Students, teachers and parents were decorated as TB ambassadors and charged with a duty to further drive the message of TB to their families and in the community at large.
The USAID TB-LON 3 project is a five-year project being implemented by IHVN with funding from the United States Agency for International Development. The goal of the Project is to innovatively engage all stakeholders in finding missing Tuberculosis (TB) cases by rapidly scaling up tuberculosis services, whilst strengthening resilient and sustainable systems for tuberculosis control.