Maputo — Mozambican Health Minister Ivo Garrido on Thursday revealed that so far this year Mozambique has received no disbursements from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Speaking in Maputo at the opening of a meeting of the Sector Coordinating Committee between the Health Ministry and its cooperation partners, Garrido said "We have problems with the Global Fund".

No money had been forthcoming from the Fund so far this year, and the Health Ministry team set up to respond to the requirements of the Global Fund "is unable to accompany the pace of the Fund's demands", even though the partners had helped the Ministry set up a "more solid" structure to allow better absorption of the money.

But problems with donors went beyond the Global Fund. Garrido declared that "the flow of funds, in 2007, 2008 and the first half of 2009 has been characterized by uncertainty and unpredictability in disbursements".

Over the whole five year term of office of the current government, "the area of disbursement has not registered any notable progress", he added.

This causes problems for the government's planning procedures. Garrido pointed out the annual Economic and Social Plan is based on financial commitments from the government and its partners.

The health sector ended the first half of 2009 with only part of the donor grants it had expected. "This means that some of the activities were not undertaken because we have still not received all the funds envisaged for the first six months", said the Minister.

He made it clear the government would like to know what it must do to comply with the demands of the Global Fund. "What we receive are just criticisms and not suggestions for improvements", he said. "These criticisms also do not reach us through official channels".

The disbursement situation, Garrido continued, was a clear sign that the dialogue between the government and its partners must be improved, in order to increase mutual understanding.

The purpose of donor funding, he said, was to finance the national plan for the health sector, which "should be realistic and complete". The priorities in the plan are decided by the Minister, after discussions at the Ministry's Coordinating Council.

Garrido stressed that wherever possible the disbursement of donor funds should respect Mozambique's own financial mechanisms and that performance assessment should be based on a monitoring system with clear indicators previously agreed between the Ministry and its partners.

"It is clear that alignment and harmonisation can only be effective, if there is predictability in disbursements and timely accountability", he said.

Mz/pf (438)