Global Fund money becomes available

South Africa's National HIV/AIDS Programme received a boost on Thursday with the signing of an agreement between the government and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria, committing US $41 million to the country over two years.

The country was awarded a total of $165.2 million over five years, of which $72-million was awarded to KwaZulu-Natal by the Fund in April last year in response to their proposal.

But Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang controversially tried to block the grant awarded to KwaZulu-Natal, saying the province should not have approached the Fund directly.

A year later, Global Fund Executive Director Richard Feachem flew to South Africa expecting to sign the agreement allowing the grant money to be released. But "last minute hitches" prevented the signing from taking place.

The grants will provide antiretroviral drugs, as well as strengthen voluntary counselling and testing in KwaZulu-Natal, one of South Africa's provinces worst hit by the pandemic.

"In retrospect, writing the proposal and getting it approved was the easy part. The challenge now will be to roll out and scale up these programmes in KwaZulu-Natal," Dr Robert Pawinski, director of the Enhanced Care Initiative - the KwaZulu-Natal coordinating mechanism - said in a statement.

The agreement also allocates funds to nationwide HIV prevention programmes, including LoveLife and Soul City.

"Today's grant signing is a turning point in South Africa – a signal of hope for those living with HIV and for all Africans working together to turn the tide against these deadly co-pandemics," Feachem said in a statement.

AIDS lobby group, the Treatment Action Campaign welcomed the announcement, calling it an "important step forward" by government.

"Although this has come very late, we hope this is a signal that government has realised the importance of treatment," TAC spokesman Nathan Geffen told PlusNews.

According to the release, the National Treasury will act as the principal national recipient for the Global Fund money, which will be used by both public and private partners.

PriceWaterHouseCoopers will serve as the Local Fund Agent and will "review financial and programmatic statements on the progress of the grant" to trigger successive Global Fund disbursements.