Those hands might stay empty as global funding for health charities dries up in 2012

As World AIDS Day approaches, health advocacy groups and charities across the developing world are tightening their belts following an announcement by the The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria that the expected 11th round of funding due in 2012 would be cancelled due to “resource constraints”.

This means that hundreds of charities and NGO’s who rely on that funding to run their programmes might see their battle against HIV/AIDS and associated health risks in their respective countries grind to a halt in 2012.

The reasons for the funding collapse are the biting recession in donor countries, particularly Europe and the US, as well as chronic mismanagement by primary recipients of the funding (hello, Department of Health!).

As the funds threaten to run dry, organisations like the Treatment Action Campaign, which has won international awards for their fight to get our government to roll out anti-retroviral drugs to the millions infected by HIV, might have to shut their doors.

Swaziland depends on The Global Fund allocations for about 10% of its HIV budget, and Zimbabwe relies on it for more than 60% of its donor funds for HIV treatment programmes.

Organisations such as the TAC are urging the public to lobby the our South African Director General of Health and the head of the Global Fund to finalise the next tranche of funding disbursements and urge primary recipients (governments) to pay sub-recipients (charities):

Please email the Director General of Health, Ms Precious Matsotso (mqadin@health.gov.za), and the Director of the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine (michel.kazatchkine@theglobalfund.org).

[Source: Times LIVE, Daily Maverick, TAC]