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SA pledges to honour terms of AIDS funding
Lynne Altenroxel. The Star, July 28 2002. Reprinted courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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The millions on offer from the Global Fund for AIDS will be spent on programmes set out in the original national and KwaZulu-Natal submissions for funding.
That is according to the health department, which intends writing to the Global Fund to explain how it intends sorting out the fiasco over the US$72-million (about R720-million) which was awarded to KwaZulu-Natal.
Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang met health MECs on Thursday and Friday, at a Minmec meeting which decided that the KwaZulu-Natal donation should be divided up between all nine provinces.
But the Global Fund said it would only release the millions to a specific proposal - if South Africa or the province had a change of heart about how to use the money, they would have to re-apply, outlining their new plans.
On Sunday ministry spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said the money would be accepted and would be used for programmes suggested in both proposals.
He stressed that the money would be used for the same type of programmes for which the funds had been granted.
Discussions between South Africa and the Global Fund are still under way, but KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Zweli Mkhize is optimistic. "I don't have any basis to believe that KwaZulu-Natal will lose the money," he said.
The row blew up over the failure of KwaZulu-Natal to follow procedure.
The national government said the province had gone over its head by approaching the fund directly.
KwaZulu-Natal and the national health department made successful bids for the cash, with the national government getting about R930-million.
KwaZulu-Natal's proposal differed from the national proposal in that it included plans to provide anti-retroviral treatment and shelter for orphans.
AIDS activists are concerned that the province, which has the highest HIV prevalence rate in the country, could lose the funds which it desperately needed, as a result of the row.
Two weeks ago Tshabalala-Msimang sought a compromise and held a meeting with Mkhize, who agreed that the money could be distributed between all nine provinces. |
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