News / National
Major blow for health sectorÂ
18 Jan 2011 at 14:40hrs | Views
Stakeholders in the health sector say the Global Fund's rejection of Zimbabwe's application for US$220 million to finance HIV and TB programmes under Round 10 threatens to derail progress achieved so far towards efforts to contain the 2 ailments.
Zimbabwe's efforts towards fighting HIV and TB have suffered a setback following the Global Fund's rejection of the country's application for funds under Round 10.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health, Dr David Parirenyatwa, expressed disappointment with the failure by the Global Fund to allocate funding to Zimbabwe, saying the country's adult HIV prevalence has been on a downward trend, dropping from 18,1% in 2006 to 13,7% in 2009 and more funding from the Global Fund would have meant more people getting access to Anti-Retroviral (ARV) therapy.
"As a committee, we are disappoint. We will hold a meeting with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to find out exactly the reasons why the country's application was turned down. A lot of our programmes are going to suffer because of limited funding but we hope funds from round 8 will pull us through," Dr Parirenyatwa said.
Dr Parirenyatwa also noted that the development will make it difficult to attain the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Access to Treatment among other drawbacks.
Apart from Anti-Retroviral therapy, the Global Fund also provides resources for voluntary counseling and testing, youth based programmes, community home based care and prevention of parent to child transmission.
National Aids Council Chief Executive, Dr Tapiwa Magure noted that the country currently has 330 000 people on ARVs out of the 550 000, who need the drugs.
He added that now that the country will not be getting more funding from the Global Fund in the next two years, the health sector budget has to respond to this development.
"Our hopes of increasing people on ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy) have been dashed. We now have to re-prioritise and cut down on some programmes and this is not good news. We were on the right path with our HIV prevalence on the decline but with this development, anything can happen," said Dr Magure.
Zimbabwe's application for US$170 million for HIV and AIDS programmes and US$50 million for TB programmes was turned down by the Global Fund.
Only the malaria application was successful and the country was allocated US$25 million.
Donor funding towards HIV and AIDS programmes is significantly low in Zimbabwe compared to other countries in the region.
No substantive reasons for declining the country's application were given by the Global Fund.
Zimbabwe's efforts towards fighting HIV and TB have suffered a setback following the Global Fund's rejection of the country's application for funds under Round 10.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health, Dr David Parirenyatwa, expressed disappointment with the failure by the Global Fund to allocate funding to Zimbabwe, saying the country's adult HIV prevalence has been on a downward trend, dropping from 18,1% in 2006 to 13,7% in 2009 and more funding from the Global Fund would have meant more people getting access to Anti-Retroviral (ARV) therapy.
"As a committee, we are disappoint. We will hold a meeting with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to find out exactly the reasons why the country's application was turned down. A lot of our programmes are going to suffer because of limited funding but we hope funds from round 8 will pull us through," Dr Parirenyatwa said.
Dr Parirenyatwa also noted that the development will make it difficult to attain the Millennium Development Goal of Universal Access to Treatment among other drawbacks.
Apart from Anti-Retroviral therapy, the Global Fund also provides resources for voluntary counseling and testing, youth based programmes, community home based care and prevention of parent to child transmission.
National Aids Council Chief Executive, Dr Tapiwa Magure noted that the country currently has 330 000 people on ARVs out of the 550 000, who need the drugs.
He added that now that the country will not be getting more funding from the Global Fund in the next two years, the health sector budget has to respond to this development.
"Our hopes of increasing people on ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy) have been dashed. We now have to re-prioritise and cut down on some programmes and this is not good news. We were on the right path with our HIV prevalence on the decline but with this development, anything can happen," said Dr Magure.
Zimbabwe's application for US$170 million for HIV and AIDS programmes and US$50 million for TB programmes was turned down by the Global Fund.
Only the malaria application was successful and the country was allocated US$25 million.
Donor funding towards HIV and AIDS programmes is significantly low in Zimbabwe compared to other countries in the region.
No substantive reasons for declining the country's application were given by the Global Fund.
Source - Byo24News
