IHVN to convene symposium on health funding, AI and Nigeria’s research future
By Ojoma Akor
The Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) will convene its fourth annual scientific symposium to examine research funding, the impact of declining global funding, and the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in strengthening Nigeria’s capacity to respond to public health challenges.
Prof. Alash’le Abimiku, Executive Director of IHVN’s International Research Center of Excellence (IRCE), announced this during a press briefing on Thursday ahead of the symposium.
Abimiku said the symposium was established to give researchers, policymakers, industry players, and communities a platform to deliberate on pressing public health challenges and explore evidence-based solutions.
She said the decision to focus this year’s discussions on research financing and AI was driven by significant changes in the global health landscape, particularly reductions in funding for major public health programs and research.
According to her, cuts affecting programs supported by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund, and other international mechanisms could have serious implications for countries such as Nigeria, which have historically relied heavily on external funding.
She said the situation was particularly concerning for research institutions because much of their research funding had come from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the world’s largest research funders.
“With their budget being drastically cut, we knew that it was going to affect our ability to compete for research grants and be able to conduct research here,” Abimiku said.
The IRCE executive director stated that the funding situation should prompt greater government investment in research, rather than increased dependence on external donors.
Abimiku cited South Africa as an example, noting that the South African Medical Research Council responded to reductions in external funding by making domestic resources available for researchers to compete for grants.
She urged Nigeria to consider similar measures to prevent researchers from losing their competitive edge and to sustain the country’s research capacity.
The IHVN executive also said the symposium would examine how AI could help researchers and government agencies make better use of existing data while improving efficiency.
She noted that AI has transformed how researchers access and analyze large volumes of scientific information, but warned that researchers must use the technology responsibly and ethically.
“We as researchers must also understand how we can proactively and safely use AI,” she said, stressing that excessive reliance on AI could undermine the creativity and critical thinking that drive scientific discovery.
Abimiku said AI could also help government make better use of the large volumes of data already available, potentially reducing the time and resources required for data analysis.
She said the event was deliberately designed to bridge the gap between younger researchers, who are more familiar with AI, and established researchers, who may be less familiar with the technology.
She said participants would also discuss ethical safeguards, particularly protecting personal and health information as AI and data science become increasingly integrated into research.
Nigeria needs stronger domestic research funding.
Abimiku highlighted that the funding crisis had made it increasingly important for Nigeria to develop sustainable domestic mechanisms for financing research and public health preparedness.
She pointed to emerging infectious disease threats, including Ebola outbreaks in parts of Africa, as evidence that reduced international funding did not mean that public health threats had disappeared.
“Right now, there’s limited funding, but the outbreaks don’t stop,” she said.
She said the symposium would give government agencies, including the Nigeria Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), policymakers, and researchers a chance to discuss how Nigeria could strengthen preparedness for future outbreaks.
She also said the event would examine efforts to build domestic capacity for vaccine and pharmaceutical development, including initiatives to strengthen clinical trials and local manufacturing.
According to her, building such capacity would enable Nigeria not only to respond more effectively to health emergencies but also to attract manufacturers and ensure that medicines and vaccines being developed and tested are appropriate for the Nigerian population.
Community voices central to health research
Abimiku said communities must be involved in setting Nigeria’s health priorities, especially as funding becomes more constrained.
She said communities often have different priorities from government and researchers and should therefore have a stronger voice in deciding which health problems receive attention and resources.
“If there is a cut in funding, there must be prioritization of what the government is going to pay attention to,” she said.
She added that communities were also increasingly concerned about how their health data were collected, stored and shared, making data privacy an important part of discussions around AI and health research.
Abimiku said IHVN’s research center would continue working to ensure that research findings translate into practical solutions for communities.
She cited the center’s involvement in clinical research and efforts to support local manufacturers as examples of how research could strengthen Nigeria’s health system and economy.