KZN grant in the clear

People living with HIV/AIDS in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) are set to finally benefit from the US $72 million granted to the province nearly eight months ago by the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

This is the culmination of a dispute where the government controversially tried to block the province's grant, stating that the application did not go through the national government before being submitted to the Fund as specified in the proposal guidelines.

But South Africa's National AIDS Council (SANAC) - the country coordinating mechanism for all Global Fund proposals - has finally given the grant, earmarked for a range of care-oriented services for HIV-positive people, the go-ahead.

The debate over the application was now over, the spokeswoman for Deputy President Jacob Zuma, the chairman of SANAC, told PlusNews.

In a statement released on Sunday, SANAC announced that they had "approved" the KZN application, subject to the province
making "certain amendments in its application, as agreed upon in discussions with the province".

"I can confirm that outstanding issues have been resolved to the parties mutual satisfaction. We are now awaiting official confirmation from the government," KZN bid's co-leader Prof Umesh Lalloo, told PlusNews on Monday.

The details of the amendments to be made, however, have not been revealed. "Essentially, they will get the money and issues such as antiretrovirals will be left in," a KZN AIDS activist who asked not be named, told PlusNews.

"The important thing for everybody is to get the programmes rolled out. We appreciate that this will be an immense challenge, but the partnership with the department of health is an indicator of success," Dr Robert Pawinski co-leader of the bid, said.

Meanwhile, SANAC has been changed into a trust fund and all applications to the Global Fund will have to be channelled through the new body. This came after civil society insisted that the council operate independently from the government.