Integrated Regional Information Networks - November 7, 2006

KAMPALA, 7 November (PLUSNEWS) - Health programmes in Uganda could be disrupted following a decision by the Global Fund to exclude the country from its list of beneficiaries, a senior government official said on Tuesday

The decision by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria would exclude Uganda from the list of countries due to receive part of its sixth round of grants.

"We had presented a funding request for three years totalling US $111 million of which we expected at least $35 million. But it was not approved," Kihumuro Appuli, the head of the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), said. "This will cause some inconveniences, but we are going to assess what impact it will cause and find out how we can bridge the gaps that might have been left."

According to the final list of approved proposals on the Fund's website, Uganda has missed out on funds to fight HIV/AIDS and malaria. However, it received a two-year grant of $10.7 million, which would bring to $26 million the total funds the country has received to fight tuberculosis (TB).

Kihumuro said despite missing out, Uganda was getting funding from other sources, mainly from the US President George Bush Initiative on AIDS, of which the country is the biggest recipient. It expects to receive up to $170 million in 2006.

He said Uganda was to establish the reasons why its proposal was rejected and that it was awaiting more details.

Last week, the Fund's board approved the sixth round of 85 new grants, totalling $847 million. These new commitments expand its portfolio to $6.6 billion through more than 460 grants in 136 countries. Some 63 countries are beneficiaries of the newly-approved funding; four are receiving financing for the first time.

Over a five-year period, the new grants will support the provision of life-enhancing antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to 200,000 people living with AIDS, the treatment of nearly 400,000 people infected with TB and the distribution of 11.5 million insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria, among other interventions.

The Fund said in a statement that nearly half of the new funding is committed to Africa, with the remainder to be distributed among other regions experiencing large or rapidly growing burdens of the diseases: Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin American and the Caribbean.

Just over half of the grants will go to combat HIV/AIDS, while the other half is evenly divided between TB and malaria. The majority of funds, or 60 percent, will flow to low-income nations.

The Fund suspended its grants to Uganda in 2005 when it discovered misuse of the funds, but reinstated them when the government appointed a commission to investigate the funds' management.

The probe into the mismanagement of the Fund, headed by a High Court judge, Justice James Ogoola, found gross mismanagement by the project implementation team.

Health ministers Jim Muhwezi, Mike Mukula and Alex Kamugisha were implicated and later dropped as ministers.

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