Photo: © AP Photo
Somehow this was expectable but it's still hard to take: last week we got to know The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria had cut the estimated amount of money available in its next round of funding due to the world economic crisis. The estimated amount is now 800 million USD which falls short from the 1.5 billion USD initially projected not long ago. The bad news is particularly worrying for those directly involved in the field: let's not forget that more than 70 percent of antiretroviral drugs in the developing world are funded by the Global Fund and in Africa it finances about 85 percent of TB programming. Mario Raviglione, Stop TB director, is afraid that these announced reductions in Global Fund money and international global health funding will reverse recent gains in the fight against TB and increase mortality.
Three years ago, fraud among recipients in Mali, Mauritania and Zambia was uncovered and as a result some major donors suspended their funding. Good management of the funding is crucial and credibility is essential. Donors must be sure the money they are donating will be used to improve people's lives instead of vanishing into someone's pockets. Right now, knowing the fable financial situation the world is living, particularly in the Euro-zone, USA and Japan, it is expected the donations will suffer cutbacks. All this will lead to changes in the response to emergency situations. The Fund will be more careful and invest more in financial control and risk management. Submissions and applications from countries will have different rules, following recommendations from the Global Fund's panel to review financial oversight.
According to Lucica Ditiu, executive director of Stop TB Partnership, competition for Global Fund grants will increase as the Fund begins to prioritize interventions that prove to be cost-effective. However, these criteria might put at a disadvantage community-based activities that often lack technical monitoring and evaluation capacity, she adds. Community-based programmes are easy victims for countries seeking to slim down funding requests. More than ever before, sustainability of TB and HIV programmes must be ensured to avoid the reverse of the outcomes already achieved. Notwithstanding the priority given to effectiveness, creative solutions must be found to make up for programme interventions that might be cut out. After all, civil society has always had an important role in global health interventions and hopefully it always will for the sake of the most vulnerable groups.
read more: Health funding frozen after corruption alleged
read more: Corruption scandal rocks ARV programme
read more: Swaziland in E40m Global Fund scandal
Three years ago, fraud among recipients in Mali, Mauritania and Zambia was uncovered and as a result some major donors suspended their funding. Good management of the funding is crucial and credibility is essential. Donors must be sure the money they are donating will be used to improve people's lives instead of vanishing into someone's pockets. Right now, knowing the fable financial situation the world is living, particularly in the Euro-zone, USA and Japan, it is expected the donations will suffer cutbacks. All this will lead to changes in the response to emergency situations. The Fund will be more careful and invest more in financial control and risk management. Submissions and applications from countries will have different rules, following recommendations from the Global Fund's panel to review financial oversight.
According to Lucica Ditiu, executive director of Stop TB Partnership, competition for Global Fund grants will increase as the Fund begins to prioritize interventions that prove to be cost-effective. However, these criteria might put at a disadvantage community-based activities that often lack technical monitoring and evaluation capacity, she adds. Community-based programmes are easy victims for countries seeking to slim down funding requests. More than ever before, sustainability of TB and HIV programmes must be ensured to avoid the reverse of the outcomes already achieved. Notwithstanding the priority given to effectiveness, creative solutions must be found to make up for programme interventions that might be cut out. After all, civil society has always had an important role in global health interventions and hopefully it always will for the sake of the most vulnerable groups.
read more: Health funding frozen after corruption alleged
read more: Corruption scandal rocks ARV programme
read more: Swaziland in E40m Global Fund scandal
it is not just about providing more money, it is about using it more efficiently.
ReplyDelete