350,000 Zimbabweans fail to access ARVs
This article was written by Itayi Garande on 14 May, at 02 : 48 AM Print
More than 350,000 people living with HIV and Aids might fail to access anti-retroviral drugs because of lack of donors.
Many western donors were severely crippled by the 2008-9 ‘great recession’ and most of the donor funds have dried up.
The government of Zimbabwe’s HIV/AIDS programme has relied heavily on donors in the past, with government contributing only 24 percent of the total amount.
The rest is provided by donors.
Currently 35 percent of people receiving ARVs are funded by the Global Fund, 18 percent by USAid, 24 percent by the National Aids Trust Fund (collected from the Aids levy) and 22 percent from the Expanded Support Programme (ESP).
The ESP is supported by various western donors.
The Global Fund has been supporting HIV and Aids, tuberculosis and malaria programmes in the past 10 years, but will suspend support in 2014, due to holes in its budget. The Fund is also said to be riddled with internal management problems which have crippled its capacity to deliver global programmes with the same efficiency as it did since it was founded.
Today, despite the Global Fund’s track record of managing its funds well, demonstrating impact and acting swiftly to deal with corruption, donors have cited “bad governance” as an reason for withholding further commitments, although the financial crisis is the oft cited reason. Critics argue that governance issues are used as an excuse by the west because in the last two years, the Global Fund’s biggest donors ― the US and the UK ― have been able to bail out badly managed banks and other lending institutions, despite overwhelming evidence of unethical behaviour, abuse of power and “bad governance” by senior management.
Development economist Jeffrey Sachs has pointed out, the US defence budget, for example, amounts to $1.9 billion a day ― just three days of that would plug the gap facing the Global Fund.
Zambian economist, Dr Dambisa Moyo, has argued against aid, which she calls “dead aid”, saying that it creates dependency on the part of the developing world.
The sum pledged at the height of the global financial crisis of $11.7 billion does not reach the desired minimum amount of $13 billion, estimated to cover current programmes
This has severe implications for many low income countries that have depended on the Global Fund’s donations and have not come up with viable alternative national policies.
In 2011, the The Global Fund announced at a board meeting in Accra, Ghana that it was canceling its next round of fundraising and is changing its management. No new grants or funding will be made until 2014, and will be at a reduced level from previous years.
The new stark reality however is that in this next three-year phase, an era of austerity, angst and uncertainty, robust growth by the Fund will not likely happen.
Zimbabwe, for example, is likely to face a US$227 million deficit by 2018, according to reports from the just-ended Zimbabwe Parliamentarians against HIV workshop in Kadoma at the weekend.
National Aids Council director for finance Mr Albert Manenji said Zimbabwe should come up with alternative funding to deal with the anticipated deficit caused by the withdrawal of donors.
“The financial gap for HIV is actually quite huge. This gap is progressing and is expected to get wider,” said Mr Manenji.
“As of 2012, the gap will be US$10 million and by 2018 it will be US$227 million and about 358 000 people who will need treatment will not be able to afford it.
“The gap would be compounded by the withdrawal of Global Fund that has been funding 35 percent of our people on ARVs; they have not committed themselves beyond 2014,” he added.
At least 300,000 people are on ARV treatment on the Government programme in Zimbabwe out of over 600,000 that are in need of the drugs.
Mr Manenji said it was important to come up with internal solutions to deal with the impending shortfall in funding.
“We have to come up with a number of strategies to deal with the issue and one of them is to efficiently and effectively use the funds that we have,” he said.
Zimbabwe has managed to slow down the spread of the virus using local resources.
“Although we have received less from outside, we have done much better than those receiving and it has been proved that you can do better with internal resources,” he said.
Mr Manenji said people on medical aid could assist by increasing their monthly contributions by at least US$4 to access ARV treatment. This would allow vulnerable groups to be accommodated on Government-supported initiatives.
*Dr Itayi Garande can be reached via itayig@hotmail.com
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HAWKMANN, 11 months ago
Zambian economist, Dr Dambisa Moyo, has argued against aid, which she calls “DEAD AID”, saying that it creates dependency on the part of the developing world. Never a truer word spoken. Well said lady. However, who will be
the first man to stand up and say, “No thanks. We don’t need your charity!”
Uganda is “creaming” it from the UK . I think their last handout was about £2 million, and I bet most of it was earmarked for Zimbabwe until apparently someone allegedly said, “You keep your Commonwealth and I will keep my Zimbabwe!” These were brave and warring words, and we really thought we were going to be better off, but those words appear to have been made without having a strategy in place because Zimbabwe is today very expensive if you do not have a job and there are few of those around because we are no longer manufacturing ourselves and exporting. Sanctions then went into gear and it seems are here to stay, so almost anything and everything we need is now imported from China. We have become reliant on China after that backlash.
These days if a wife cannot get money from her husband the best route is a brilliant lawyer and to divorce him and claim 50% of everything he owns. We divorced ourselves from the Commonwealth but no plans were made beforehand to get the 50% that is now being distributed to our cousins instead.
Our masters cannot understand the reasoning behind the Global Fund because whoever you think is in the UN, think again. It is a Gentlemens’ Club that uses women as its spokespersons because they have a more gentle way of putting things across to the masses. Because they do not appear aggressive as male speakers, we can accept what they say.
In effect the Commonwealth was told we can go it alone. Now when the Global Fund indicates that we have to, our shocked masters cry “Foul” while the man in the street continues to suffer..
Mr Albert Manenji said Zimbabwe should come up with alternative funding. Sir, have you thought of accessing alternative funding from our own Diamond Industry? What is it therefore, but to benefit the people?
Rumour has it that the Chinese are already making plans for our liquid gas reserves beneath Wankie Coal Mines; apparently they are very busy tarmacing highways to ports in Mozambique from where they will ship our gas to Gwadar in Pakistan, then through the Himalayas into China. In on the deal, Pakistan on the other hand will never want for gas! We don’t even have ZESA yet we have the second biggest man-made lake in Africa which was built as a hydro electric scheme.
Thirty years down the line and Zimbabwe still appears to have no great plans at this stage to be self-sufficient, it is obvious that Global Funders have identified this weakness in our facade.
We are heading in the same direction as the ancient Phoenicians yet had they identified the diamonds and gas centuries ago, our demise would have come a lot sooner. Perhaps the GF are going to wait until 2014 and see if we can pull ourselves out of this mess.
O, come the day they, the World Bank etc etc have to come to Zimbabwe and ask us for a Loan.
It is common knowledge that the Chinese do not want Zimbabwe. Australia wears that coveted crown but they do want what is in Zimbabwe, beneath its bloodied soil although in years to come, by the time we ever get our act together and become self-sufficient, there will be nothing left beneath the soil to make our country great and we will be unable to give anyone anything.
Dead Aid – truly it is poison from the cup that instils dependency, and ultimately death by our own hands, as Dr Moyo has pointed out, but who will heed her wise words.
Zimbabwe News Online, 11 months ago
[...] 350,000 Zimbabweans fail to access ARVs [...]