Global Fund warns against complacency
Nov 10, 2014
The Global Fund has warned governments against complacency in the fight against HIV and Tuberculosis.
By Carol Natukunda
The Global Fund has warned governments against complacency in the fight against HIV and Tuberculosis.
Speaking at the recent World Conference on Lung Health in Barcelona, Spain the Funds executive director Mark Dybul stated that there was no reason why countries that were not showing any improvements in fighting the epidemics should receive more funding.
“Funding is constrained. We need to use resources better. No one is going to advocate for more money if there is no improvements or decline even with the funding they have,” Dybul said.
“If you show results, you get more money…It is a shift of the mind set. Thinking differently takes you to a different path. If we use the resources we have correctly, we will gain. That is for us to decide,” he added.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria mobilizes and invests nearly US$4 billion a year to support programs run by local experts in more than 140 countries. As a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and people affected by the diseases, the Global Fund hopes to end the three epidemics.
Dybul regretted that TB, once a forgotten disease, has bounced back in full swing, with a more worrying sprain that is multidrug-resistant.
Statistics show that the number of people diagnosed with multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) tripled between 2009 and 2013. An estimated 480,000 people around the world developed this drug resistance TB, while about 210,000 deaths were reported.
In Uganda, Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem. The country is ranked on the 22 TB high burden countries, according to the World Health Organisation Global TB report 2013. About 130 cases per 100,000 people have Tuberculosis in Uganda.
He challenged governments to rethink their strategies.
“You do not have to go everywhere in the country. You go where the new infections are. Focus on the vulnerable populations such as mining areas, prisons. Focus on the people you do not normally focus on such; consider marginalised groups such as the women and children.”
He also called for the need to handle HIV and TB simultaneously saying it was a deadly combination as each worsens the progress of the other among patients.
“You can’t talk about TB without talking about HIV and vice versa,” said Dybul.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation revealed that new treatment drugs are in the pipeline to curb an impending health crisis.
However, it asked governments to subsidise the cost of drugs saying most patients cannot afford the entire treatment course, hence resulting into relapses.
Dybul stressed the need for better drugs with shorter durations for cure and lesser side effects.
“TB has a curative therapy of six weeks and a likely three months. Imagine if HIV had that.”
Dybul’s remarks followed concerns raised during the conference, by Khairunisa Yahya Suleiman, a Public Health Consultant and TB activist in East and Southern Africa,
“Our message is simple; we want a bigger slice of the pie for TB. But this shouldn’t detract from important work being done on HIV and malaria—instead, we need a bigger pie to fight all three diseases,” said Yahya.
The conference was organized by the International Union of Tuberclosis and Lung Disease under the theme “Community Driven solutions for the next generation.”
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