US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1714

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001714 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W DAN EPSTEIN, AF/EX 
 
E.O. 12958:    N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, NI 
SUBJECT:  LETTER FROM PRESIDENT OBBASANJO TO PRESIDENT BUSH 
RE PEPFAR 
 
 
1.  On October 5, 2004 Ambassador received a letter from 
the President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo dated October 
4, 2004 to be transmitted to U.S. President George W. Bush. 
Original is being sent via unclassified pouch. 
 
Begin Text: 
 
His Excellency, 
President George W. Bush 
The White House 
1600 Pennsylvania Ave 
Washington, DC  20502 
USA 
 
Dear President, 
 
It is with great pleasure that I am writing to introduce 
you to the Pan African Health Foundation (PAHF), a new 
international non-profit (501 (c) 3) initiative.   PAHF 
seeks to develop long-term sustainable solutions to the 
very heavy and growing burden of infectious diseases in 
Africa in a novel way.  It is being supported by my 
government, the Nigerian private sector and U.S. and other 
foreign companies operating in Nigeria.  I would be very 
honoured if the US government participates in this critical 
project as well. I have outlined below, for your 
consideration, information about PAHF and its relevance to 
the growing burden of disease in Africa, and how it fits 
with the overall objective of your President's Embergency 
Plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR). 
 
A major facilitator of disease spread throughout Africa is 
unavailability or unaffordability of essential medical 
supplies to prevent or treat theses diseases.  In trying to 
address this problem, and due to limited production 
capacity in Africa, the traditional international aid 
approach has been to donate these supplies, albeit on an ad 
hoc basis.  While this approach provides short-term 
solutions, it falls short of the ideal situation in which 
African countries become self-sufficient.  PAHF's approach 
moves toward this ideal by developing production facilities 
for essential medical supplies within Africa. 
 
PAHF's first project will be an Auto-disable (AD) syringe 
factory in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.  Safe syringes are very 
important, not only because injections are the most commed 
medical procedure, numbering 16 billion each year, but also 
because syringes are becoming increasingly critical in the 
fight against HIV/AIDS, since they are used for 
investigating and monitoring People Living with AIDS 
(PLWA).  The WHO estimates that nearly half of all syringes 
are reused in Africa, causing 1.3 million early deaths, 26 
million years of life lost, and leading to US$535 million 
in direct medical costs.  In Nigeria, it is estimated that 
ten per cent of all new HIV/AIDS are caused from blood 
sources, including unsafe injections.  AD syringes prevent 
the dangerous re-use of syringes by ensuring that each 
syringe can only be used once.  The Port Harcourt syringe 
factory will produce 135 million syringes each year, 
providing safe injections and immunizations for our 
children. 
 
As you know, due to Nigeria's limited budget for public 
spending, we directly support very few non-profit 
organizations.  However, PAHF's approach differs greatly 
from traditional charity work and is very much in line with 
our own development objectives.  We also believe that PAHF 
will bring large and lasting benefits to the Port Harcourt 
community, and Nigeria as a whole.  We are, therefore, 
supporting PAHF with a donation of US$1.5million.  It is 
our hope that this project can usher in a new standard for 
development assistance. 
 
It is my great hope that you will consider joining us in 
this important initiative by dedicating funds from your 
PEPFAR initiative for this project.  As we welcome the 
expanded treatment of PLAWA made possible by your 
compassionate initiation of PEPFAR, it has become very 
important to ensure that syringes used in monitoring PLWA 
progress are AD syringes, in order that this deadly 
pandemic is not worsened through the dangerous reuse of 
syringes.  PAHF's Ad Syringe Project thus relates to your 
PEPFAR initiative in a very direct and timely manner, since 
it will help satisfy the increased need for safe syringes. 
 
Please kindly note that your government's contribution, 
either directly, or through a matching funds basis, will 
greatly expedite PAHF's ability to raise the US$20 million 
necessary for the AD syringe project.  I look forward to 
further discussing your potential involvement.  Please do 
not hesitate to contact me for more information about PAHF 
and its important role. 
 
God bless you. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
    /s/ 
Olusegun Obasanjo 
END TEXT.