The government will be spending close to R2,3-billion on its HIV/Aids programme by 2010, according to the mini-Budget tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.
The figure was contained in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, which gave no breakdown of how the amount was arrived at.
The bulk of the money will be made up of the so-called ”comprehensive HIV and Aids grant” to provinces, set at a revised R1,6-billion for the current financial year.
According to the document, R750-million is to be allocated to this grant over the next three years in addition to funding already earmarked.
This was to enable the health sector to deal with the take-up of the antiretroviral treatment programme and to expand prevention, care, treatment and nutrition activities.
By the 2009/10 financial year the grant will stand at R2,28-billion.
Some provincial health departments have been under fire for the slow pace of their ARV roll-out.
A total of R49-million unspent on last year’s health budget is to be rolled over to the remainder of the current year to be spent on HIV/Aids programmes in the Western Cape and Gauteng, where the treatment roll-out has been rapid. – Sapa