GNP+ calls for more cooperation in Global Fund

Cooperation between many governments and NGOs in country coordinating mechanisms (CCMs) for the Global Fund was absent during the first round of funding proposals, the Global Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) said.

Stuart Flavell, international coordinator of GNP+ called for more dialogue between governments and NGOs during the second round.

"The first round was a terrible example, dialogue – what dialogue? There was no time for anything, let alone dialogue," he said in a press conference.

While there had been more consultations between the UN system and people living with HIV/AIDS, governments still lagged behind, he added.

Milly Katana, a board member representing southern NGOs on the Global Fund, said a bigger portion of the money in the Fund should go to interventions which bridged the gap between treatment and prevention.

She appealed for more funds to ensure the sustainability of programmes providing antiretroviral drugs.

Katana denounced the current conflict between the South African government and KwaZulu-Natal province over the grant awarded to the province’s coordinating mechanism.

"This recent conflict is only one in an unacceptable line of efforts on the part of the South African government to stymie the response to the pandemic," GNP+ said in a statement released during the conference.

"The person suffering is that young girl in KwaZulu Natal who cannot be treated, and the person looking after orphans. It is not the government," Katana told PlusNews.