Roland Ogbonnaya
28 September 2008
column
Lagos — Over the years, Africa has been under the treat of HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis and malaria. However, in as much as there are genuine efforts by governments, non-governmental organisations and donor agencies to step up the battle against the three pandemics, there is need for synergy among the stakeholders on sourcing and appropriate channeling of funds. A summit towards achieving these objectives was held in Accra, Ghana recently.
Physically challenged James Mhango works with a community based organisation known as Young Women Christian Association in Blantyre, Malawi. The organisation aims at providing services to the women at grassroots level in the urban and rural areas. These are disadvantaged women who many of them live in poor conditions and ravaged by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Mhango was one of the participants at the grassroots capacity building for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), organised by Friends of the Global Fund Africa (Friends Africa) in Accra, Ghana. He said some of the funds his organisation gets from donors are channeled towards taking care of disadvantaged women and girls, especially those infected with HIV/AIDS. They are empowered by sponsoring them to school when they are abandoned by families as well as assist them in meeting the drugs needs.
"Apart from this assistance, we provide them with food and clothing, especially those displaced by natural or man made disasters. But in all these, fund has been our major problem. With a summit like this, I am now better educated on how to apply for grants from donors. This summit has offered me the opportunity to meet face to face some of these donor organisations like the Packard Foundation, DFID amongst others," Mhango said. He stressed the need for Friends Africa to hold the summit annually so as to enable other NGOs to gain from the knowledge.
Another participant, Dr. Ezeanochie Okorochukwu of C'fine and consultant at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, Abia State, described the summit in Ghana as very rewarding and also called for its annual convocation. He said the summit has become an eye-opener and a big opportunity for him to interact with other organisations from other countries which do similar jobs. He said his organisation has done a lot in Abia State in the area of malaria control and education.
"We educate the public on malaria prevention, control and treatment. Our recent survey in the state indicated that there is reduction in the death of children resulting from malaria in the hospitals. There is the need to keep our environment clean as well as the necessity to use the mosquito treated nets. But we need funds to be able to achieve more hence one has to appreciate the relevance of this summit in Ghana," Okorochukwu told THISDAY at the pool side of La Palm Hotel, Accra.
About 60 out of 450 non-governmental organisations across Africa who applied, as well as donor agencies were at the three-day summit organised by Friends Africa, African Council of AIDS Service Organisations (AfriCASO) and sponsored by Afrinvest, Access Bank Plc and the United Nations Foundation.
Declaring the summit open, Ghanaian Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, disclosed that AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria kill about six million men, women and children each year, which comes to 16,000 people each day. He said that the three pandemics have hit Africa the hardest with close to 70 per cent of world wide infections and over 75 per cent of all AIDS related deaths in 2007 taking place in sub-Sahara Africa. In addition, the Ghanaian Vice President said that about 60 per cent of the cases of malaria worldwide and more than 80 per cent of malaria deaths also occur in the sub-Sahara Africa.
The region, according to Mahama also accounts for the 30 per cent of new cases of tuberculosis worldwide. He said these three diseases are devastating the continent's human resources thereby taking heavy toll on Africa's most vulnerable people. "But we all recognise that AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are preventable and treatable.
"While steady progress is being made, we are still considerably beneath the mark. The momentum is gaining grounds and must be sustained from administration to administration. We owe this to ourselves and our children because there is no Africa with Africans," he added.
Mahama who represented President John Kuffour, said in order to achieve the goal of universal access and achieve the millennium development goals by 2015, there is need to significantly scale up responses to the challenges posed by the three pandemics. He said that African government must therefore prioritise increased health spending. As an African, "I am especially proud of this important initiative and the lives that will be saved by the efforts of Friends Africa, AfriCASO and our 60 exceptional grassroots organisations."
He said there is need to bear in mind that bulk of resources to fighting the three pandemics should be channeled to Africa, adding that the prevalence of diseases in various African countries today plays a large role in perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty and reduction in life expectancy.
The mandate of saving lives, Mahama emphasised is a very huge one, which Africans need to demonstrate to donor agencies and beneficiaries that "we are accountable and achieving results for Africa's well-being is hanging in the balance and we can not fail. I also call on Africa's business community to engage in the business of saving lives. They need to do this because they should use their resources support healthier bodies and minds, the most important factors of production.
"You will agree with me that grassroots development is the bedrock of national development. It is the summation of small successful ventures that feed into national success stories. This is why there is an increasing interest by the Global Fund and other donors to work directly with actual implementers. To do this successfully however, there is a need to increase local retentive capacity, ownership, leadership as well as plan for sustainability," he added.
Adding her voice to the issue, the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Mrs. Elizabeth Mataka said Africa's success in fighting HIV, tuberculosis and malaria is essential because the continent is the epicenter of the worldwide epidemic and needs to fight these three diseases to keep their people healthy in order to fight its way out of poverty. An effective response to these diseases is vital to the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDGs), she added.
Although MDG (6) specifically addresses the AIDS epidemic, Mataka explained that the attainment of this goal will support the achievement of the MDGs one, which addresses eradicating poverty and hunger. "But we know that AIDS deepens household poverty and undermines other sectors which drive economic development such as agriculture. The same can be said for millennium development goals three, four and five," the UN envoy added.
Mataka who also runs an NGO on HIV/AIDS in her home country, Zambia informed that the scale of the epidemic in Africa therefore demands that the engagement of all stakeholders should be strengthened. She said grassroots organisations are critical to the success of the response, but their effective and sustainable contribution requires capacity building in all components of project implementation.
She also noted that grassroots organisations need assistance in being good stewards of the funding they receive as well as the need to understand the elements of good programming, which does not only include what kinds of services are delivered, but also proper budgeting, procurement processes, monitoring and evaluation as well as good governance. These things, she said are essential to initially attract and maintain funding and be able to sustain programmes on an ongoing basis.
Welcoming the participants, the Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Friends Africa, Dr. Akudo Anyanwu-Ikemba recalled that there have been a surge of civil society organisations in Africa in the last 10 years. She said that this development presents a unique opportunity to grow and build solid and effective indigenous institutions in Africa that can support government.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
