Uganda: Funding for AIDS Fight Drops - United Nations. 27/7/10
Funding for its programmes had dropped for the first time in 15 years.
By Angelo Izama
27 July 2010
Kampala — The United Nations initiative on HIV/Aids as well as the Global Fund yesterday said donor funding for its programmes had dropped for the first time in 15 years.
The drop by $600 million, while not extreme, was a worrying trend said the head of UNAIDS, Mr Michel Sidebe, at a special press conference called by the two agencies on the sidelines of the African Union summit at Speke Resort Munyonyo. Mr Sidibe was flanked by the head of the Global Fund for Tuberculosis, Malaria and HIV/Aids, Mr Michel Kazatchkine, who said they were looking for renewed commitment for world leaders to keep up funding levels.
Caution
"This is not the time to scale down," Mr Sidibe said adding that a fully-funded Global Fund, which needs at least $10 billion more to meet its target, was capable of reversing the incidence of HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis.
He said there is a real link between Aids and maternal and infant mortality - the theme of the AU meeting. "Let's not hide from the fact that there is a financial slowdown," Mr Kazatchkine said. However, President Museveni presented a different argument about health outcomes, linking it to the health of the economy on Monday.
Critics of UNAIDS and other donor-aided programmes blame them for skewing health care spending, focusing too much on a few diseases and at the expense of the health care system in general.