CSOs vow to pursue Global Fund’s K210bn

Tom Sangala October 26, 2015

268 1 minute read

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the HIV and Aids sector have vowed to monitor the implementation of programmes aimed to fight HIV and Aids, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria using US$378 million (approximately K210bn at current exchange rate) that the Global Fund recently approved for Malawi.

President Peter Mutharika on Wednesday last week signed the Partnership and Acknowledgement of Grants Agreement with the Global Fund where US$346 million and US$32 million are for HIV/TB and malaria fights respectively.

This latest grant is coming against the background of a funds management scandal at the National Aids Commission (Nac) where the Commission was accused of disbursing funds to organisations not directly involved in HIV and Aids interventions.

Addressing the press in Lilongwe on Sunday, board chairperson of the Malawi Network of Aids Service Organisation (Manaso) Maziko Matemba said the CSOs will support the implementation of the New Funding Model (NFM) for 2015-2017.

In this model, the Ministry of Health is the Principal Recipient (PR) on the government side while World Vision and ActionAid are the PR on the non-governmental organisations side.

Matemba—who was together with Executive Directors of Manaso, the Malawi Interfaith Aids Association (MIAA) and the Malawi Network of People Living with HIV (Manet+) Abigail Dzimadzi, Robert Ngaiyaye and Safari Mbewe respectively—said the CSOs will ensure that the prime beneficiaries of the funds are reached out to.

“We will align ourselves to support linkages between health facilities and communities around them to implement a 90-90-90 community package. We will lead in demand creation and awareness raising…

“We will also undertake constructive evidence-based advocacy, promoting gender, human rights and parallel monitoring for accountability of all HIV resources in Malawi,” said Matemba, adding that the CSOs have already signed these commitments and others with Executive Director of Global Fund, Mark Dybul.

On her part, Dzimadzi said the CSOs will be following up on how every penny will be utilised so that the previous reservations are eradicated, adding that they will continue with their watchdog role irrespective of circumstances.

Meanwhile, Ngaiyaye has warned patients on Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) not to stop taking their medications after ‘being prayed for’, saying religious leaders agreed that prayers should go together with medication.