University of Maryland Virology Institute to open AIDS Research Center in Nigeria

Black Issues in Higher Education, May 19, 2005

ANNAPOLIS, MD.

The University of Maryland's Institute of Human Virology (IHV) will open a research branch in Nigeria to help the populous African country battle an escalating AIDS epidemic.

Nigeria, where nearly 5 percent of its 140 million people are infected with the HIV virus, is on the front line of Africa's AIDS crisis. The center, in the capital Abuja, will provide "a platform for partnerships to effectively engage the best minds in solving research problems," says the institute's director, Dr. Robert Gallo, a co-discoverer of the HIV virus.

Gallo was to announce the partnership along with Maryland's Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and the two principal investigators for the project; Dr. William A. Blattner, director of the institute's epidemiology and prevention division, and Nigerian-born virologist Dr. Alash'le G. Abimiku.

Blattner says the Nigerian institute is modeled on the Baltimore institute and will provide treatment, care and training as well as conduct research. Gallo plans to travel to Nigeria later this year to dedicate the new institute and chair an HIV/AIDS symposium, the institute announced.

Dr. Donald Wilson, dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, says "health challenges related to HIV/AIDS in Nigeria mirror those in the city of Baltimore, so there is much to be learned and much to be shared."

The Nigerian institute is being funded by $22 million in awards from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Under the program, IHV-Nigeria will oversee the treatment of nearly 15,000 Nigerians at six sites nationwide during the next year.

The funding is part of a $15 billion, five-year program by the Bush administration to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in 15 nations. The institute is also working with Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services in nine countries, including Nigeria, under a $64 million, five-year award.

"The success of our trainees in advancing science is notable," Dr. Abdulsalami Nasidi, director for Special Projects for the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja, said in a statement. "But for science to advance to the next level in Africa, advanced facilities are needed."

--Associated Press