News / Health
National Aids Council to put 70K more people on ARVs
20 Feb 2012 at 00:10hrs | Views
National Aids Council (NAC) chief executive officer Dr Tapuwa Magure last week said owing to the stabilisation of the economy, the National Aids Trust Fund is expected to put 70 000 more people on ARVs by year end.
"We are very excited that at a time when global funding is dwindling, our own initiative (the National Aids Trust Fund) is boosting itself, enabling us to double our coverage," said Dr Magure.
"This is a very remarkable achievement for us as you may be aware it took us several years to initiate the current people on ARVs but for this year alone we are expecting to put a further 70 000 people on treatment."
Aids Levy was introduced in 1999 to cater for HIV and Aids services after Government declared the disease a national disaster.
The levy is 3 percent of income tax paid, so the maximum anyone is charged is just over 1 percent of their gross salary and only very high earners are charged that much.
Most people pay well under 0,5 percent of their salary.
Not much money was collected at first owing to low salaries and the poor performance of industry and by the last days of the Zimbabwean dollar, the payments were meaningless, having being turned worthless by inflation between collection and transfer to the trust.
Following dollarisation, NAC collected US$5,7 million in 2009 with a dramatic increase to US$20,5 million in 2010.
The council reckons this could hit US$30 million this year.
As collections rise, the fixed sum spent on administration becomes a smaller percentage of the total.
Zimbabwe started treating people with free ARVs in 2000, but since then only 80 000 have been put on the free Government programme.
Dr Magure said the Aids Levy is promising and if collections continue to improve, the NATF could be an answer to funding gaps caused by the global economic recession.
In Zimbabwe, major donors in HIV and Aids response have either scaled down or stopped funding HIV programmes as their contracts have expired.
These include the Expanded Support Programme, which had 80 000 patients under its support who are now under the care of Government.
There has been a lot of worry over the future of HIV positive people accessing free ARVs under the Global Fund to Fight HIV and Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international programme largely funded by the wealthier nations. Funding promises fell in the last round.
The Global Fund caters for about 35 percent of HIV and Aids and Tuberculosis in the country and the money being used is from Round Eight of funding which is set to end next year.
Zimbabwe lost its Round 10 application and Round 11 has been cancelled as a result of the crash in funding pledges.
The only funding available is from Round Eight phase two, which has a two-year lifespan after which funding gaps will arise.
According to NAC, Zimbabwe has 1,2 million people living with HIV and Aids with a prevalence rate of 13,6 percent.
About 347 000 people are on life-prolonging ARVs, some on the trust's scheme, others on donor schemes and a minority buying the drugs for themselves or through medical aid, against a total of 593 168 with CD4 count level of 350 who are in urgent need of treatment.
Seventy-six percent of the 347 172 patients on treatment are funded by donors.
"We are very excited that at a time when global funding is dwindling, our own initiative (the National Aids Trust Fund) is boosting itself, enabling us to double our coverage," said Dr Magure.
"This is a very remarkable achievement for us as you may be aware it took us several years to initiate the current people on ARVs but for this year alone we are expecting to put a further 70 000 people on treatment."
Aids Levy was introduced in 1999 to cater for HIV and Aids services after Government declared the disease a national disaster.
The levy is 3 percent of income tax paid, so the maximum anyone is charged is just over 1 percent of their gross salary and only very high earners are charged that much.
Most people pay well under 0,5 percent of their salary.
Not much money was collected at first owing to low salaries and the poor performance of industry and by the last days of the Zimbabwean dollar, the payments were meaningless, having being turned worthless by inflation between collection and transfer to the trust.
Following dollarisation, NAC collected US$5,7 million in 2009 with a dramatic increase to US$20,5 million in 2010.
The council reckons this could hit US$30 million this year.
As collections rise, the fixed sum spent on administration becomes a smaller percentage of the total.
Zimbabwe started treating people with free ARVs in 2000, but since then only 80 000 have been put on the free Government programme.
Dr Magure said the Aids Levy is promising and if collections continue to improve, the NATF could be an answer to funding gaps caused by the global economic recession.
In Zimbabwe, major donors in HIV and Aids response have either scaled down or stopped funding HIV programmes as their contracts have expired.
These include the Expanded Support Programme, which had 80 000 patients under its support who are now under the care of Government.
There has been a lot of worry over the future of HIV positive people accessing free ARVs under the Global Fund to Fight HIV and Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international programme largely funded by the wealthier nations. Funding promises fell in the last round.
The Global Fund caters for about 35 percent of HIV and Aids and Tuberculosis in the country and the money being used is from Round Eight of funding which is set to end next year.
Zimbabwe lost its Round 10 application and Round 11 has been cancelled as a result of the crash in funding pledges.
The only funding available is from Round Eight phase two, which has a two-year lifespan after which funding gaps will arise.
According to NAC, Zimbabwe has 1,2 million people living with HIV and Aids with a prevalence rate of 13,6 percent.
About 347 000 people are on life-prolonging ARVs, some on the trust's scheme, others on donor schemes and a minority buying the drugs for themselves or through medical aid, against a total of 593 168 with CD4 count level of 350 who are in urgent need of treatment.
Seventy-six percent of the 347 172 patients on treatment are funded by donors.
Source - TH
