Glimpse on donor funding

07 Apr, 2017 - 00:04 0 Views
Glimpse on donor funding

The ManicaPost

Catherine Murombedzi Health Correspondent
ZIMBABWE relies on foreign funding for the sustainability of most of its HIV, TB and malaria programmes.

The domestic funding last year had $34 million in its coffers that was used to alleviate the HIV and Aids’ pandemic nationally.

The National Trust Fund faces challenges as more people lose jobs. The Aids Levy gets three percent of a worker’s taxable income. This is the Aids Levy, but with job losses the base keeps shrinking.

Last month, Zimbabwe submitted $630 million request to the Global Fund to enable the country to manage its HIV/ TB programmes nationally.

Zimbabwe has 1.2 million people living with the virus.

Of these, 850 000 are on lifelong therapy (ARVs).In the last round which ends in November 2017, running for a three-year period, the country was allocated a total of $600 million for HIV and TB programmes. For the current request that will run from December 2017 to November 2019, the country has requested $431.9 million and a prioritised above allocation request (PAAR) of $197 million. A separate funding request for malaria was submitted for $51.7 million.

The Global Fund has allocated Zimbabwe’s total allocation for the three diseases mainly HIV, TB and malaria – nearly $484 million.  So the country is asking for a revision on the allocated funds.

Zimbabwe’s request is ranked among the largest allocations that any country received from the Global Fund for the 2017-2019 funding. Countries that got more than Zimbabwe are Nigeria, Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique and India.

Zimbabwe’s revised TB/HIV funding request stands on enhancing integration, focusing on locations and populations at high risk of new HIV infections and improving quality of careBeing on ART is not the all in all as care which requires CD4 counts,  liver tests functions and toxicology tests run through viral load monitoring have to be factored in.On the first theme – integration,  we find that currently patients have to go to an ART centre for ARVs and next to a clinic for TB control.It is high time the two were managed at the same health facility which becomes a one-stop centre.

That is what the request is stating on integration. Health care workers need continuous training to keep in touch with the changing face of the pandemic

.The strengthening of maternal health is a pillar which requires support as entry points for preventing HIV transmission to infants and linking children exposed to TB to appropriate preventive therapy is critical in curbing new mother to child transmission.

On locations and populations at high risk, vulnerable populations are clearly spelt out as a tap that has to be stopped in new infections. The bulk of Zimbabwe’s allocation which is 70 percent has to be dedicated to the procurement of essential medicines and health products.

A further 20 percent has to go to retaining critical human resources for health and programme management. The country has a high brain drain due to lack of retainer incentives. The country’s high dependency on donor funding is not healthy and solutions from domestic funding are needed like yesterday. Improving quality of care is critical in prolonging life of recipients on anti retroviral therapy.To retain qualified personnel in the health sector, incentive-based retention has to be applied as a pull factor.

It envisages employing a pay-for performance rather than a blanket salary.Aidspan, an international organisation in the field has reported the Global Fund’s desires to wind-down the practice of funding salary incentives for health workers, but in a country like Zimbabwe this is deemed vital for retaining key staff and improving quality of service delivery.Meanwhile, the University of Zimbabwe Clinical Research Site based at Parirenyatwa Clinical Research Centre (UZ-CRC ) is preparing to roll out a Clinical trial addressing heart complications in PLWHIV.People living with HIV are seen to be at high risk of cardiovascular (heart) complications.

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