KENYA hasreceived enough money to support HIV programmes until 2016, thegovernment has said. The assurancecame as the Global Fund revealed Kenya will be allowed to apply formore funding in 2014. National Aids Control Council said the country is still utilising about Sh14billion from Global Fund's Round Seven.
Another Sh29.8billion (US$ 345.103 million) approved last year under Round 10 willbe channeled in two tranches until 2016. Under this,select NGOs will receive Sh4 billion while the government will getSh25.6 billion to last until 2016. “Global FundRound 10 cushions beneficiaries from immediate effects of donorwithdrawal up to 2016,” NACC director Prof Alloys Orago said.
He, however, warned that delaysby donors would impact on HIV programmes negatively. “We are concerned that it is too soon to pull back and imagine that HIV willsimply go away without sustaining the war,” he said yesterday in astatement. Global Fund deputy executive director Debrework Zewdie told the Starthe Fund has enough money for grants approved so far.
Activists hadearly this week in Nairobi protested cancellation of Round 11 offunding, sparking fears of shortage of ARVs in future. Dr zewdie, anEthiopian, said round 11 was scrapped because the Board replaced the“rounds” funding system with a two-step process that begins in2014. “Kenya will beeligible to vie for the next round of modality in 2014 but countries need tofind their own funding means to subsidise our funding,” she said.
Under the newsystem, countries will prepare concept notes and receive fundingmainly on project basis. Dr Zewde, however,admitted donor countries delayed remitting money to the Geneva-basedFund which may have been distributed in Round 11. “For the2011/13 funding cycle, all donors who pledged their resourcesare still honouring their pledges. But because of the economicclimate, the cash at hand was not in the bank by the time we wantedto disburse.
Our funding policy is such that all the money for thelife of the programme must be in the trustee account,” she toldStar in an email. Tomake savings, the Fund has stopped funding middle-income countrieslike Brazil, India, China and Mexico to concentrate on the developingcountries. Ithas also tightened rules to eliminate misuse of the funds which isrampant in many countries including Kenya. GlobalFund is the second biggest financier of HIV, TB and Malariaprogrammes in Kenya.
