Global Fund results show broad gains against HIV

Global Fund results show broad gains against HIV

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced new results on Monday ( 23. 07.2012)  that show a significant increase in treatment of HIV and in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The results show that 3.6 million people living with HIV are now receiving anti-retroviral treatment under programs backed by the Global Fund, an increase of 600,000 since the end of 2010

Overall, 8.7 million lives have been saved by programs supported by the Global Fund since the organization was formed in 2002. The results include data through June, 2012.

The success in expanding treatment for HIV in developing countries has been achieved by effective efforts by health workers in countries with a high disease burden, the commitment of donors, and reduction in the cost of drugs, among other factors. A year’s supply of first-line anti-retroviral drugs costs today less than $100 per person for the least expensive regimen recommended by the WHO, from more than $10,000 in 2000.

However, financial support for effective drugs is only part of the solution. Preventing and treating HIV requires extensive efforts by health and community workers – persuading high-risk people to be tested, and counselling patients on treatment – and can only work by strengthening health and community systems. The engagement and support of civil society organizations have also been crucial to the successful implementation of Global Fund grants and their achievements.

By mid-2012, the results show an increase in the number of pregnant women living with HIV who have received a complete course of antiretroviral treatment under programs supported by the Global Fund to 1.5 million.

“As we focus our resources to increase impact, preventing mother-to-child transmission is an area where we are achieving great success,” said Gabriel Jaramillo, General Manager of the Global Fund. “These results show that creating an AIDS-free generation is now possible, but only if we push harder to get there.”

The results also show that the number of HIV testing and counselling sessions provided by Global Fund-supported programs rose by 43 per cent in the 18 months since December 2010 to 210 million.

Massive strides have also been made in the fight against malaria, with 115 million insecticide-treated bed-nets distributed in the past 18 months alone under programs backed by the Global Fund, taking the total number of nets distributed to 270 million. The number of cases of malaria treated has risen by more than half in the same period to 260 million.

Global Fund-supported TB programs continued to expand. Recipients of Global Fund financing have cumulatively detected and treated 9.3 million smear-positive cases of TB, an increase of 21 per cent from 2010 to mid-2012.  They have also more than doubled the number of TB/HIV services, such as screening for co-infections, delivered over the same period.

Together with the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR, the Global Fund is one of the leading international financial supporters for HIV prevention and treatment. The Global Fund provided 21 per cent of total international investments for HIV and AIDS in 2009, the latest year for which data is available. The Global Fund was also the main source of international funding in 52 of the 92 recipient countries that have reported financial data to UNAIDS.

The Global Fund will invest up to US$8 billion in grants to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria over the coming 20 months, US$5 billion of it in Africa.

President Museveni challenges leaders on women empowerment, as birth control efforts get major boost

President Yoweri Museveni has challenged leaders especially those from developing countries to re dedicate themselves to the social- economic transformation of their people and to addressing their reproductive health needs.

He urged them to empower women in all aspects saying all stake holders must be on board as women do not only give life but they are the backbone of the economies of the developing world.

The President said the government of Uganda is committed to ensuring that all women are enabled to exercise their family planning choices and to strengthen service delivery and the reproductive health systems in the country.

President Museveni who is accompanied by the First Lady Hon.Janet Museveni was last evening delivering his key-note address at the London Summit on Family Planning hosted by the British Prime Minister David Cameron and co-sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and United Nations Fund for Population Activity-(UNFPA).

He told participants at the meeting who included the Tanzanias’ leader Mr. Jakaya Kikwete and that of Rwanda Gen. Paul Kagame, that government will increase the current allocation for family planning supplies from USD 3.3 million per year to USD 5 million per year for the next five years and will mobilize an additional USD 5 million from External partners.

He also said the National Medical Stores will be strengthened to improve distribution of supplies to both public and private health delivery units.

This he said, was in accordance with the road map to reach Uganda’s’ goals towards the achievement of her National Development Plan. He also said that the country was making steady progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, citing reduction of poverty levels among the people, increase in life expectancy, the provision of Universal Primary and Secondary Education and promoting women development.

The summit was addressed by Presidents Jakaya Kikwete and Paul Kagame who both committed their governments’ efforts in scaling up family planning infrastructures through more resource allocation and information dissemination.

Welcoming Heads of State and other delegates to the summit, Prime Minister David Cameron said empowering woman is key to the development of a family.

He said women should be allowed and be able to decide whether, when or how many children they should have and to avoid unintended pregnancies.

"We're not talking about some kind of Western-imposed population control, forced abortion or sterilization," said Cameron. "We're not telling anyone what to do. We're giving women and girls the power to decide for themselves,” he said.

He committed over 500 million pounds between now and 2020 to the cause of family planning in order to provide affordable lifesaving contraceptive services, information and supplies in the world's poorest countries.

Mrs Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and co-sponsor of the summit said the purpose of the Foundation was to help all people around the world to live healthy and better lives adding that family planning with contraceptives helped families to determine when to have their children, enable them go to schools and live good lives and at the same time enabling women and girls avoid unwanted pregnancies.

She committed over US$500 million to Family Planning between now and 2020.

The Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, (UNFPA ), Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin thanked the three Heads of State for honouring the Summit. He described President Museveni as a man full of wisdom and who led Africa in the fight against HIV/AIDS adding that the pledge to boost birth control measures is transformational for the developing world.

The measures agreed at the conference would avert an unintended pregnancy every two seconds over the next eight years and mean that 212,000 fewer women and girls would die in pregnancy or childbirth. They would also prevent 3 million babies dying in the first year of their lives and that an estimated 220 million girls and women around the world would use contraceptives if they had access to them.

The lack of contraceptives resulted in over 60 million unintended pregnancies every year, while putting women at risk of death or disability during pregnancy, as well as unsafe abortions. According to reports in 2008, there were around 14 million births to adolescent girls in developing countries, "most often before they were physically, emotionally or economically prepared.”

Press Release: President Museveni calls for unity deal based on justice for the two Sudans.

President Yoweri Museveni has called on the people of South Sudan not to be like the Biblical children of Israel who were about to back-track to Egypt when faced with challenges.

“You should stand firm and make sure that judgment is attained. Be strong, the modern world doesn’t have a place for the weak hearted”, he said.

The President who was the Chief Guest at the celebrations to mark the first Anniversary of Independence of South Sudan called for a peaceful deal based on justice to resolve the conflict between Sudan and South Sudan. He urged President Salva Kiir to strike a deal with the Khartoum government that will benefit everybody.

“I don’t care who is right or who is wrong but make a deal based on justice and a deal that will not create problems in the future”, he counseled. He decried the suppression of black people by greedy politicians.

“In the world, the voice of black people is not heard; otherwise the suffering of the black people of South Sudan would not have gone on for too long because their case was quite obvious”, the President said.

In a brief recount of the history of the South Sudanese struggle to independence, Mr. Museveni lamented the tendency of black people being prone to division. He, however, paid great tribute to the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the heroes and heroines, who fought hard to win the independence struggle.

The Republic of South Sudan, the youngest independent nation on the African continent, yesterday held its 1st Independence Anniversary celebrations amidst pomp at the John Garang Mausoleum in Juba. South Sudan became independent on the 9th July 2011 after a majority of its over eight million inhabitants voted in favour of cessation from the Khartoum based government.

Other high ranking officials who attended the celebrations included former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating AU-led talks between Sudan and South Sudan, Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemerian Desalegn, Chairperson of AU Commission Jean Ping, AU Chairperson Yayi Boni, Minister of State for Public Service of Kenya Dalmas Ayango and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Hilda Johnson.

President Salva Kiir on his part congratulated the people of South Sudan and paid tribute to the fallen heroes.

“The celebrations to mark the first anniversary are a manifestation of a sustained liberation struggle. Today we are free and liberated; but as we celebrate we must know that freedom is not an end in itself,” he said.

President Salva Kiir said that the conflict between his country and Sudan, stems from the fact that since attainment of South Sudanese independence, the Khartoum administration has continuously disregarded South Sudan’s sovereignty which has caused fighting and displacement of South Sudanese citizens.

He, however, emphasized that he will solve all those problems through dialogue. He reported that the Khartoum government had confiscated oil belonging to the government of South Sudan worth over US$800 million leaving South Sudan to operate on a very limited budget. He also expressed optimism that the relations between Khartoum and South Sudan would soon be addressed peacefully.

“We realize the importance of our mutual relationship and respect each other’s sovereignty as we pursue the visions of our two countries”, he emphasized. President Kiir paid tribute to development partners and civil society organizations for their assistance before and during South Sudan’s first year of independence.

Speaking on the way forward for South Sudan, President Kiir promised to tackle corruption, which he said had made the country lose millions of shillings. He also called on the people of South Sudan to join him in the fight against corruption so that the vice does not undermine the aspirations of the South Sudanese people.

African Union commission chairman Jean Ping said the AU noted the tremendous difficulties facing South Sudan, urging both Juba and Khartoum to stick to AU and UN Security Council resolutions to broker peace between them.

In a speech read for him by Ms. Hilda Johnson, the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon pledged the world body’s support to ensure a peaceful and stable South Sudan.



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Global Fund Offers Outstanding Value for Money

The General Manager of Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Gabriel Jaramillo, has told a gathering of finance and health ministers that the financing institution offers outstanding value for money by effectively treating and preventing the spread of disease.

In a speech to a Conference of Ministers of Finance and Health by Harmonization for Health in Africa (HHA), Mr. Jaramillo said the changing economic climate had forced the Global Fund to change its operations to make grants more strategic, improve efficiency and become more effective overall.

The Global Fund will invest US$8 billion over the coming 20 months, US$5 billion of it in Africa. Mr. Jaramillo said that with productivity gains and more co-investment by countries that receive grants, there is a tremendous opportunity.

“As a former banker, I know a good deal when I see one,” said Mr. Jaramillo. “There is no better deal that investing to prevent these diseases.”

Jaramillo urged the ministers not to fear the investment necessary just because the up-front costs look high, because maintaining gains is less-expensive than the initial investments.

“Front-end these programs now, put your skin in the game now, because the out-years will be much cheaper as your number of cases goes down.

“Sustaining your programs is much-less costly than you believe, and the return on investment is potentially huge,” he said.

He also observed that the average cost of ARV drugs is now US$ 127 per patient per year, 12 percent less than in 2010, on top of a 27-percent decline the year before. The average cost of insecticide-treated nets is down to US$ 4.50.

He also cited recent analysis about Namibia, where HIV treatment costs approximately US$ 120 million a year, about half of that paid for by the Global Fund. With that investment, 9200 hospital beds were released for other health problems, 1,000 health workers and 550 teachers were kept alive per year,. The country also went from 9,400 hospitalizations to 236 and 2,700 deaths to 56 over five years.

Jaramillo drew a sharp contrast between the situation today and that of 10 years ago, when international assistance for health saw a huge increase in funding because of three factors – generosity, fear, and a sense of urgency.



“Ten years ago, few people were on ARVs in Africa, and fewer than five per cent of African households owned insecticide-treated nets. Today, only generosity is left as a motivator, you have to create the sense of urgency and much work remains to be done,” he also said.

The current rate of improvement will not be sufficient to reach the health-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Only 41 percent of countries supported by the Global Fund are on track to meet the fourth MDG on reducing child mortality and the sixth on combating HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

“We know what works now we did not 10 years ago,” Mr. Jaramillo said. “You have become good at this fight. The knowledge base has moved from the North to the South—you now know the most. We want to work with you to make your programs more effective and more efficient.”



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Press Release: President urges leaders on unity in service, says lack

In another attempt to resolve the simmering tensions over land in Kayunga district and growing divisions among local leaders over the matter, President Yoweri Museveni met district leaders and later held a rally for bibanja and landlords to address the issue.

President Yoweri Museveni who met leaders from the lowest councils to the district leadership at Nakyesa Primary school urged them to educate the people about the law governing land issues especially about bona fide occupants and illegal occupants. He said the disagreements among the leaders focus on the same issue but interpreted differently.

“People being evicted illegally from their land and land disputes in the district are rampant. It is my job to inform you about the improved laws that govern land in Uganda. I want to get to the truth of the matter,” he said.

The President later held a rally at Kayonza Primary school were victims of land evictions and some landlords gave their testimonies on matter. The President pledged to send investigators to ascertain the credibility of the issues raised by the residents. He said he would use the testimonies given to help him scrutinize the issue to its conclusion.

There were reports that the district is faced with rampant evictions that have left thousands homeless and starved while others claim that the number of illegal occupants in rising.

“ People who get involved in Illegal evictions will be dealt with. I have come here three times because people in Buganda have been affected by these evictions. I want to stop this practice. I want to commend Minister Madada….the banyankole have a saying that a child saw their aging mother and asked what kind of wife their father married... Madada helped us a lot in the land act especially in parliament. That law was passed and it is tough because it says those who illegally evict will be arrested including their accomplices. The frustration has been that it has not been implemented because we have not been getting accurate information about who is doing what,” he said.

According to the President, if it is mailo land or lease land you can have a kibanja by law in two ways. If the landlord granted you permission to stay there or if you have been staying on the land before 1983 or the person who sold you the land was there prior to 1983 or if you are settled there by government or if you are the first land on public land under customary rights.

“You should see were your claim lies. If you don’t fall in any of these categories then you are on that land illegally and we shall have to discuss with you how to help you in another way. One way of helping you would be to set up a fund from which you can borrow money to buy land. If you are on land illegally, it will help you to buy land elsewhere. Land is not only for building on and sleeping there but also for production so that we get out of poverty,” he said.

The President stressed that they don’t want a situation where people invade other peoples land without following the law, adding that landowners must also be protected especially those using the land for production.

“That stampede which you say they have sold you out is because you don’t know the law and you are just frightened for nothing.  Because it makes no difference because the one who is buying is inheriting the problems the old one had. A kibanja holder does not have to buy themselves out if they have no money or no desire. If you have money it is good to pay the landlord and get a title. But even if you do not pay the landlord for title you can use your kibanja for production and nobody will evict you by law,” he said.

The President said landlords can only charge nominal fees approved by the District Land Boards adding that a special account will be opened at the districts for money that is rejected by the landlords to be deposited.

Mr. Museveni commended the State Minister for Labour and Bbaale County MP, Hon. Sulaiman Madada together with Kayunga District Woman MP, Hon. Aidah Nantaba, for their relentless assistance to the people in a bid to solving the land issues.

He assured LC Chairpersons and other officials, to fulfill their roles basing on the law. He assured them that their financial needs would be addressed as the national economy improved.

The President called on the people to cultivate a culture of valuing the important role the environment plays in human sustainability.

“Those people invading swamps and forest reserves should know that that is government land and government needs to protect it,” he said.

Regarding the government development programmes, the President said that Bujagali power dam is ready adding that the government would embark on the construction of other power generating dams such as Isimba, among others. He revealed that the people that would be affected would be compensated promptly.

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