'Find New Ways to Finance AIDS Fight'. 19/10/10
Government is also dependent on the assistance of external donors such as the US Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
Tamar Kahn
19 October 2010
Cape Town — The South African Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS yesterday called on the government to lead discussions with the private sector to find new ways to finance the fight against the disease.
SA has one of the world's worst HIV/AIDS epidemics, with an estimated 5,7-million people infected. While SA is one of the few African countries able to afford to commit significant funds, the government is also dependent on the assistance of external donors such as the US Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
Brad Mears, the coalition's CEO, said the global recession has led to international donors reducing their contributions to agencies such as the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, raising fear about the long-term sustainability of external funding for SA. The South African private sector could help bridge that gap, he said.
"Can we not pair donor funding with that of private equity to provide the capital injection needed to address human capacity constraints and develop much-needed infrastructure development?" he asked.
He wondered whether the government, perhaps under the leadership of departments like trade and industry, finance and health, could lead discussions with the private sector in this regard.
Mr Mears made his remarks ahead of the launch of the coalition's Community Fund, which aims to raise R500m by the end of next year to support the government's HIV- testing campaign. The campaign aims to test 15-million people for HIV, high blood pressure and diabetes by the end of June next year.
It is part of the government's plan to accelerate its HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes in line with its commitment to halve the number of new HIV infections between 2006 and next year, and to ensure that 80% of HIV/AIDS patients needing treatment have access to the required drugs.
The private sector's target is to reach 2-million people, Mr Mears said, adding that this campaign will continue beyond the government's, until December next year.
The funds raised by the coalition will be used to extend the campaign beyond its member companies into areas where they operate.
The coalition also launched a web-based reporting tool for companies, which will be used to monitor and evaluate the private sector campaign. The information will be given to the government and will be available to the public in a form that does not identify specific companies or individuals.
"We would like to see companies being able to benchmark their outcomes against their competitors," Mr Mears said, emphasising that companies will be measuring themselves against an industry average and not against specific companies