The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria says it will not withdraw funding granted to South Africa.
This follows reported comments last week by fund executive director Richard Feacham that the funds, which have been available since 2002, are being held up and that the money will be withdrawn from the government and given directly to the people doing the work.
Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang subsequently rejected the claim, saying that during February, Soul City, loveLife and various organisations in KwaZulu-Natal all received their money. And in April, the first steps were taken to secure the second disbursement for the same recipients and these were being finalised.
Delays, mainly due to accountability procedures, had been minimal and were fully justified in terms of ”responsible administration”, she said.
A statement from the fund said that it wants to clarify Feacham’s remarks to say that it is not intending to withdraw any funds from South Africa and that collaboration between the fund and the South African government is ”productive and positive”.
It said it is encouraged by recent progress and is confident that the programmes supported by the fund will contribute substantially to South Africa’s struggle with HIV/Aids.
It will help to find joint solutions to bottlenecks to ensure rapid and efficient implementation of the fund-financed programmes in South Africa, a statement on its website said.
To date, the fund has approved proposals for HIV/Aids prevention, treatment and care worth $234-million (about R1,5-billion) over five years to South Africa.
A Department of Health spokesperson was not available for comment, but the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported that the fund has apologised to Tshabalala-Msimang and that she has accepted the apology. — Sapa