AFTER signing a 525m US Dollars (approximately 1.155tri/-) grant from the Global Fund, Tanzania has assured development partners that the amount will be spent on initiatives to reduce the tuberculosis epidemic, fighting malaria and prevention of HIV infections among women of childbearing age.
The signing of the four-year long deal was witnessed by Canadian, German, Swiss, French, UK, Swedish, American, Japanese, Norwegian and Irish representatives, as well as some beneficiaries of Global Fund projects from upcountry. The Minister of Health, CommunityDevelopment, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, directed executives to ensure that the fund was channeled into the specified areas, emphasizing pursuit of transparency, in order to achieve national goals in fighting the cited diseases.
Explaining how the money allocated to the anti-HIV/Aids battle, the minister said the goal was to increase coverage of services in general and sub-populations, to meet triple 90 per cent targets in line with the global targets by 2020.
Elaborating on the figures, Ms Mwalimu said: “By 2020, ninety per cent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status. By 2020, ninety per cent of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy, and 90 per cent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.” On, malaria, the minister said the country was targeting to reduce the prevalence of the disease to less than one per cent in 2020, which will be achieved through distribution of Long Lasting treated Insecticides Nets (LLINs) and mass replacement campaign.
In accomplishing the aforementioned goals, the Global Fund has set aside 769bn/- for HIV/ AIDS which, according to the minister, will also be spent on procurement and distribution of medical supplies for treatment, care and support of people living with HIV/ AIDS. Apart from fighting HIV/AIDS, in the signed pact, the Global Fund will dish out 67bn/- and 320bn/- for TB and malaria, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the Tanzania National Coordinating Mechanism (TNCM) for Global Fund, Ms Rachel Makunde, said “the Global Fund support to Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) has facilitated the expansion of Medical Stores Department (MSD) warehouses by more than 10,000 square metres of storage space and procured 181 fleet.”
Delivering the statement of the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Philip Mpango, the Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ms Amina Shabani, urged all implementers to observe ethics in the expenditure of public funds, stating, emphatically, that the government would not tolerate anyone who would misuse the money.
She added that her ministry was committed to collaborate with development partners, the private sector and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and hold strategic dialogue to strengthen partnership
No comments :
Post a Comment