SOUTH AFRICA: Global Fund boost for HIV/AIDS programme

JOHANNESBURG, 2 May (PLUSNEWS) - South Africa's HIV/AIDS programme received
a boost last week with the announcement of a US $165.2 million grant from
the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria.

South Africa's grant awards cover two proposals, focusing on treatment,
care, and support of people with TB and HIV. The Fund awarded almost US $93
million to the country's coordinating mechanism, the South African National
AIDS Council.

The remaining US $72-million went to a proposal by the KwaZulu-Natal
provincial coordinating mechanism (PCM) for a range of care-oriented
services for those living with HIV/AIDS.

KwaZulu Natal has the highest HIV positive population in the country, with
one in three adults estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS. But the award was
highly unusual, as the Fund's guidelines say that priority would be given to
country coordinating mechanisms.

The provincial application to the Fund was facilitated by the Nelson R
Mandela School of Medicine's Enhancing Care Initiative and HIV/AIDS Public
Health Programme, a collaboration between the medical school and the
provincial Department of Health.

KwaZulu Natal PCM member, Prof Umesh Lalloo, told Plusnews that the success
of the province's proposal resulted from a number of public-private
partnerships.

"Apart from the university, we had the Durban Chamber of Commerce, NGOs like
the South Coast highway hospice, NAPWA [National Association of People
living with HIV/AIDS], legal networks, various religious organisations as
well as the provincial department of health."

The proposal had provided clear strategies on caring for people living with
HIV/AIDS, as the Enhancing Care Initiative had been implemented in several
pilot sites throughout the province Lalloo said.

Voluntary counselling and testing and the identification and treatment of
opportunistic diseases were existing services that would be improved with
the grant.

An extensive training programme in the public health sector was underway and
would ensure that health workers could provide adequate care and treatment.
Lalloo stressed that antiretrovirals would only be provided in settings with
adequate resources and with properly trained staff.

The biggest allocation in the province would go to a home-based care
partnership between the university and the Durban Chamber of Commerce and
Industry. The services will be rolled out over five years under the guidance
of an advisory board.

[ENDS]

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