$3bn funding gap in Zim’s HIV response programmes

05 Oct, 2014 - 04:10 0 Views

The Sunday News

ZIMBABWE may experience a funding deficit of about $3 billion in its HIV response programmes in the next decade if the prevailing funding levels and commitment from donor partners do not improve, an expert has warned.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Aids (UNAIDS) country director in Zimbabwe, Mr Micheal Bartos, told Sunday News last week that close to $7 billion was needed to fund the country’s HIV response programmes next year to 2025, if the present cost structures are maintained.

Mr Bartos, however, said based on the prevailing commitments by the country’s donor partners and estimates of economic growth, Zimbabwe will only be able to raise about $4 billion to fund its programmes.
This will leave the country’s response programmes to HIV in a funding deficit of about $3 billion.

Projection by UNAIDS show that an estimated $756 million is expected to come from domestic sources, with about $3 billion coming from international sources, if donors maintain their current funding levels.

“There is a funding gap in terms of looking at the expansion of the HIV programme that’s needed. The country at the moment is in a situation where if you look at the biggest cost it is on the coverage of Anti-retroviral therapy.

“Three quarters of the people who need Anti-retroviral therapy are on that therapy. That has to increase, numbers have to increase because it’s not only people who are newly infected who would need Anti-retroviral therapy but those who have been infected in the past and are on the waiting list. That’s one of the reasons driving this gap in funding.

“If you look over a 10 year period, that funding gap might be as much as $3 billion if you compare with the amount of funding being provided. One of the things that is clear is that, if the country is to look at a full scale HIV response over the next 10 years there has to be more money put into it,” he said.

Mr Bartos was quick to add that the funding gap could be reduced if the country implements various strategies aimed at reducing costs of its HIV response programmes.

The UNAIDS country director said the country should concentrate the available funds on areas of priority, as well as explore other sources of funding as one of the measures to reduce the gap.

“The gap might be much less than $3 billion if there are some efficiencies that can be made. I think that’s one of the things that the authorities might want to have a look at. They now have to look at where we can concentrate our efforts to get maximum impact; there are some areas where we can generate efficiency. Are there any new sources of funding? Those are some of the questions that should be looked at.

“There is a range of possibilities that can be looked at to reduce costs. One sort of efficiency is how many times does one need to see a doctor before they are initiated on anti-retroviral therapy. There is also a need to look at the money that is used on training and see if there are ways to reduce the costs. Training is one of the big expenditure items, and there is a need to explore cheaper models of providing training,” he said.

According to a National Aids Spending Assessment study conducted in 2011 and 2012, only 30 percent of the total $314 million spent on HIV and Aids in 2012, came from internal sources, with the larger chunk coming from external sources.

This funding structure has raised concern among stakeholders that if donors were to pull out, the country’s HIV response would be heavily compromised.

Calls have been made for authorities to move towards mobilising more internal resources for a more self-sustained HIV response.

The National Aids Council (NAC) is considering a raft of strategies, including levying night clubs and players in the informal sector to augment the Aids levy, in efforts to generate more domestic resources to support the national response to HIV.

NAC collects AIDS levy, which is three percent of Pay as You Earn from the formally employed population, and the same percentage from corporate tax.

However, official figures from the 2012 national census results show that only 11 percent of the national workforce is employed in the formal sector and 84 percent of those above 15 years are employed in the informal sector.

A total of $144 million in Aids levy has been collected since the country adopted the multi-currency regime in 2009, with the levy contributing 86 percent of funding for the council.

 

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