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K15.6bn boost for Aids, TB fight
By
Aubrey Mchulu - 27-09-2002 |
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Malawi has qualified for a K15.6 billion (US$196 million) grant to fight HIV/Aids and tuberculosis over a five year period from the Global Fund.
National Aids Commission (NAC) executive director Dr. Biswick Mwale said in an interview yesterday that a proposal for malaria control has been finalised and will be submitted to the Global Fund in Geneva, Switzerland today.
HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria were identified because they are the current major killers in the world.
He said implementation of the programme is expected to start before the end of the year “as soon as the contract is signed” with the Fund launched in May 2001 by United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan during a UN conference on least developed countries in Brussels, Belgium.
“The Global Fund was established to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. TB is being tackled as a cross-cutting issue while malaria is not included in our programme at the moment,” said Mwale.
Malawi’s programme, according to a statement published by NAC, will ensure linkages with other current activities such as behaviour change interventions, advocacy strategies for HIV/Aids and reproductive health, mainstreaming HIV/Aids in the public and private sector, monitoring and evaluation strategy and health sector reforms.
The statement, signed by Mwale, said the programme will also seek to strengthen and expand programmes for prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV and contribute towards reduced HIV incidence. This component will, among other things, also accelerate provision of Antiretroviral drugs and replacement feeding options to mothers in Malawi.
The programme also contains a component of community home-based care which seeks to improve services and care of orphans.
The Global Fund was designed to increase world expenditure on health and HIV/Aids fight from US$1.5 billion in 2001 to between US$7 billion and US$10 billion.
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