during the Mid-Term Review of the Global Fund Replenishment, Durban
4 July 2006
Programme Director
Replenishment Vice-Chairperson, Sven Sandström
Global Fund Board Vice-Chairperson, Dr Lieve Fransen
Global Fund Executive Director, Professor Richard Feachem
Honourable Ministers
Donors and funders
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning and welcome to my home city of Durban and to our beautiful
country, South Africa. Please accept my apology as I could not be with you last
evening during the reception. I believe officials from my Ministry have relayed
to you my sincere greetings and welcomed you on behalf of the government of
South Africa. I trust that you have enjoyed our hospitality and our selection
of the finest wines.
Most of you have been here since the Global Fund Partnership Forum which
started on Saturday and I hope that you have found time in your busy schedule
to experience the hospitality of our citizens, to experience our culture in
particular our extraordinary cuisine and unique artifacts as well as to take a
walk along our lovely beaches. I invite those that have not yet had an
opportunity to do so to take time to experience what Durban has to offer.
Programme Director, the partnership forum is an important structure in the
architecture of the fund and has significant implications for the replenishment
process. It is within this context that I wish to make a comment or two on the
partnership forum. I wish to acknowledge that the forum was approached with a
sense of seriousness it deserves and the structure of the meeting allowed for a
meaningful participation by all and sundry. It was indeed a success.
I wish to recommend that we strengthen this important process, firstly by
replicating it in country through national partnership forays which would
extend participation to people whose participation at the partnership forum was
limited due to financial and other constraints. Secondly, we can strengthen
this process by giving due recognition to the role of government in the
process. Sadly, the evaluation of the partnership forum was silent with respect
to recognising the role of government.
In previous occasions I have referred to our National Health Act (NHA) that
provides for the establishment of a Consultative Health Forum, a legislative
framework that accords all stakeholders a platform to express themselves with
regard to all health issues that extend beyond HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and
malaria.
This forum is convened by government as it exercises its stewardship role.
It is within this legislative framework that we will establish a national
partnership forum and also reconsider our country co-ordinating mechanism
model.
As South Africans we are indeed honoured that a country in a region that is
highly affected by TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS and in a region where a significant
number of countries are beneficiaries of the global fund, was selected to host
the mid-term review of the global fund replenishment. Bringing discussions of
this nature to a developing country is a demonstration of the commitment of the
global fund and our development partners to close the resource gap.
Hosting this meeting in this country is also a commitment to ensure
predictability and sustainability of funding in developing countries. Financial
resources from the global fund have become an important and necessary part of
health spending in many countries in the African region and other countries of
the south, in particular the poorest countries.
Predictable and sustainable financing is one of the major determinants of
success in scaling up of interventions for malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS prevention,
treatment, care and support.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that 20 to
23 billion US dollars annually is needed globally by 2010 to support scaling up
of HIV/AIDS responses in low and middle income countries. This figure is
certainly significantly higher when estimates for TB and malaria over the same
period are factored in.
The global fund estimates the funding gap to be 800 million United States
(US) dollars for round six and 2,1 billion US dollars for 2006 - 2007.
Let me acknowledge upfront that donors have a significant number of
competing priorities for limited funds and that they also have a wide variety
of different channels to get their funding to the end recipients, including
through bilateral funding arrangements.
Chairperson, it is imperative however that the global fund is fully funded
in order to fully fund round six and frequent rounds in subsequent years.
At our replenishment conference in London, we emphasised the need for
countries with a potential to contribute significantly to do so and in this
regard the global fund was tasked to mobilise additional contributions and to
report on progress at this mid-term review.
I therefore encourage our development partners to be generous today and
tomorrow as well as in the future open your hearts and wallets and fund this
gap.
Failure to do so will have very grave consequences for the future of
humanity. As you do so I challenge you to take into account issues of
predictability and sustainability by making medium to long term pledges that
will match the medium to long term national strategies to respond to the three
diseases.
It is important though, for the global fund to demonstrate its added value.
It has to continuously prove that it is an effective and premium mechanism to
channel donor resources in order to encourage donors to see it as a funding
channel of choice in response to the three diseases.
It is equally important for recipients to play their part by utilising
resources in an effective, efficient and responsible manner whilst maintaining
accountability. This will and does generate credibility and donor confidence of
enormous proportions.
Chairperson, allow me to add quickly that as donors and recipients we all
have a joint responsibility for ensuring that the global fund has sufficient
resources. We must hold true to our commitment to ensure that no fully costly
national plan is left unfunded.
I have repeatedly said that as recipient countries we must bear part of the
responsibility to close this funding gap by allocating in an incremental
manner, domestic funds in our own budgets for a sustainable comprehensive
response.
We also need to ensure adequate financing of sectors responsible for other
social determinants of health such as water, sanitation, housing and education.
As we direct the flow of resources towards these sectors we have to focus on
strengthening of the health and social system. This will ensure long term
sustainability, predictability and relevance of response to each country and in
my view it is one way of addressing âbeyond phase twoâ crisis that some of our
countries are likely to face.
South Africa remains committed to increasing investment of domestic
resources. An example is that our comprehensive HIV/AIDS plan is 90 percent
financed through domestic funding.
Budget allocation has tripled over the last four years from just over R1
billion in 2002 to R9 billion in 2003 and to R2,9 billion in 2004 and R3,5
billion in 2005.
We further remain committed to supporting the global fund consistent with
our potential and ability to do so. We have so far pledged 10 million US
dollars over a period of five years from 2003 to 2007. As a gesture of this
commitment, I wish to announce that the South African government will pledge an
additional R1 million in this current financial year.
As we deliberate today and tomorrow about replenishment for 2008 and beyond,
I challenge all of us to ensure maximum predictability and sustainability of
financing national plans in response to the three diseases.
Finally, Programme Director, I regret to have to inform you and the
distinguished delegates that much as I would have liked to, I will not be able
to stay longer in this meeting as duty calls elsewhere and I have to oblige. I
shall be leaving you shortly, however, I have full confidence in the team of
dedicated senior officials from my Ministry that I shall leave behind with you.
I wish you productive and fruitful deliberations.
Thank you!
Issued by: Department of Health
4 July 2006
