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EU aid for health services

    HARARE

    The European Union is this year expected to spend close to US $30 million to help improve Zimbabwe's underfunded health delivery system.

    The head of the European Commission (EC) delegation to Zimbabwe, Francesca Mosca, said in a statement last week the money would be taken from a US $69 million fund committed to Zimbabwe for the period 2000 to 2006.

    "The programme's purposes are to support people's increased access to affordable quality health services, mainly by ensuring the continued availability of safe blood and the supply of essential drugs for the prevention, treatment and control of HIV/AIDS and other communicable and non-communicable diseases," said Mosca.

    She said priority areas would be the fight against HIV/AIDS. "The European Commission sees the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zimbabwe as one of the biggest socioeconomic problems facing the country." The EC would support a national AIDS conference to be held in June, and part of the money would also go towards assisting NGOs involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria.

    The cash injection would improve crumbling infrastructure and delapidated equipment at the country's hospitals. "A lot of the equipment at hospitals and health facilities needs repairs or replacement," said Mosca.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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