Anthony Bugembe
15 August 2008
Kampala — Uganda is not among the countries to benefit from round eight of funding from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The Global Fund usually invites low and lower-middle income countries to submit requests for grants in successive funding rounds. The deadline for submissions in the latest round was July 1, 2008.
"We are still finalising with the Round 7 funding. Applying for fresh grants would have been illogical. However, we shall apply for Round 9 funding," said a source at the Uganda AIDS Commission.
Under Round 7, Uganda applied for $241,392,849 (sh391b) to fight HIV/AIDS and $125,571,990 (sh203b) for malaria. The Global Fund approved $70,277,726 (sh114b) and $51,422,198(sh83b) for the two respectively.
During the international AIDS conference in Mexico this month, the Global Fund announced that 97 countries had asked for a total of $6.4b in fresh grants to fight the three diseases. Round eight funding requests had the highest ever since the Global Fund was set up.
The increase in demand for new grant money is mainly in developing countries which are preparing to significantly expand AIDS treatment and prevention, mass distribution of mosquito nets and TB treatment and diagnosis. The highest grant requests of about $4.2b are from Africa.
Round 9 will open in October this year with a deadline for applications in January 2009.
The Fund has approved grants worth $1.4b to 136 countries since its creation in 2002. It currently provides a quarter of all international financing for AIDS globally, as well as two-thirds for TB and three quarters for malaria.
In 2005, Uganda received the first batch of funding amounting to US$45m from the Global Fund.
Later a commission of inquiry headed by Justice James Ogoola revealed that the funds were grossly mismanaged. Prosecution and recovery efforts are ongoing.
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