The Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria's Board of Directors have approved a total of up to US$302 million funding for South Africa over a period of five years for the tenth round of grants for prevention, treatment and care of AIDS and TB.
Of the previous grants we have received from the Global Fund, this is the highest amount. It covers, for the first time, treatment. It also includes health systems strengthening and scaling up of medical male circumcisions.
The Fund will support the following priority areas:
- Increase HIV and TB case finding and linkages to care at community level through HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT);
- To ensure rapid roll out of safe medical male circumcision targeting underserved, high burden areas;
- Expand access to antiretroviral (ART) according to updated national guidelines and Isonaizid Prophylaxis Therapy (IPT);
- Strengthen pharmacovigilance and resistance monitoring and reduce adverse events related to ART, TB and related medicines;
- Strengthen health systems supporting HIV & AIDS
- Strengthen governments and civil society capacity to manage the response to HIV & AIDS.
We welcome the grant particularly the contribution to AIDS treatment. It will allow us to put more people early on treatment and it will improve health outcomes as well as avert AIDS-related deaths. The approval of payouts by the Global Fund follows a pledge of 11, US$7 billion over three years by donor countries, private foundations and companies, at a regular replenishment conference in New York.
The Global Fund, a public-private partnership, has invested US$21.7 billion in 150 countries since it was created in 2002. Of the US$302 million, a total of US$196 million is for AIDS treatments, US$33 million for medical male circumcision, and a significant amount of US$10 million for strengthening health systems and community response in respect of HIV & AIDS and TB, and US$8 million for direct support of the TB programmes.
Of the total fund, a sum of US$128 million - of which 65% is for ART has been approved for the next two years.
This is a major addition to our R4, 280 billion tender for procurement of antiretroviral drugs to support the implementation of HIV and AIDS treatment in South Africa for the next two years effective from 1 January 2011 to 31st December 2012.
We thank the bilateral and multilateral organisations for heeding the call to provide additional funding. The Global Fund has been crucial to scaling up treatment.
Dr Aaron Motsoaledi
Minister of Health
Source:Department of Health
