The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Senior Reporter
NEARLY 20 years of progress against the HIV epidemic could be in jeopardy if donor funding continues to fall, latest data presented at the just ended 22nd International Aids Conference (Aids 2018) shows.
However, Zimbabwe says domestic funding of HIV is poised for growth to cushion the country in the event of donor funding continuing on the downward trajectory. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Retired Brigadier-
General Dr Gerald Gwinji told Sunday News that the Government is working on strengthening domestic funding of HIV.
Rtd Brig-Gen Gwinji said the Government had also made a commitment to meet the Abuja Declaration targets of 15 percent of the national budget being allocated to health. He said such a commitment would see more resources being channelled to the health sector to cushion the country from the feared donor fatigue.
“What research has shown is that over the years, domestic funding has been increasing. There are efforts to increase domestic funding but that will depend on how the economy performs. It also depends on how the informal sector is formalised.
“Secondly, the Government has made a commitment to meet the 15 percent Abuja targets. Coupled with the health levy, this will bring in a significant amount of resources to the health sector,” he said.
A study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health shows that cuts to development assistance for HIV could do serious harm in hard-hit countries, which continue to rely greatly on donor funding.
“If donors falter in their support for HIV, the consequences could be devastating,” said Professor Linda-Gail Bekker,
President of the International Aids Society and International Chair of Aids 2018. Smart investments are curbing the spread of HIV and saving both money and lives. Now is not the time to stall or pull back.”
A report issued by the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAids shows that eight of 14 donor governments have reduced their spending on global HIV efforts in 2017.
Overall, donor government funding for HIV increased from 2016 to 2017, following two years of declines. However, the increase has been attributed to a shift in timing of US support, and is not expected to last. Another study presented by Ms Annie Haakenstad of the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health showed in countries with high HIV prevalence, nearly 80 percent of spending came from development assistance. The study concluded that development assistance remains a major portion of spending on critical HIV prevention and treatment programmes, especially in the hardest-hit countries.
The study recommended that high-prevalence countries that rely on international aid to plan strategically should ensure that declines in external financing do not threaten progress towards an Aids free generation.
However, another study presented by UNAids provided new insight on trends in domestic HIV spending, based on an analysis of data from 112 low and middle-income countries.
The study found that, overall, domestic public spending on HIV in these countries increased by 60 percent from 2006 to 2016.
In low-income countries, spending increased from $121 million to $256 million; in lower-middle income countries, from $231 million to $980 million; and in upper-middle income countries, from $2,4 billion to about $6,9 billion.The study also found that domestic public spending on HIV has a significant positive relationship with the GDP per capita of a country, coverage of antiretroviral therapy, and HIV prevalence. It concluded that sustained increases in domestic public spending will be critical for ending Aids as a global public health threat by 2030.
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