Funding &Invest in Malaria Control &Procurement Supply Management Bill Brieger | 19 Dec 2016
Malaria Funding Allocations by the Global Fund and the Need to Mitigate Risk
The Global Fund Observer (aidspan) has provided information on the 2017-19 allocations by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Here we take a closer look at the malaria component.
Overall malaria grants account for $US 3.3b or 32% of total funding for the period. This includes 71 countries as follows:
- 41 countries in WHO’s Africa Region
- 6 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region
- 7 in the Americas
- 10 in Southeast Asia
- 7 in the Western Pacific
The Global Fund Observer also noted that the GFATM board is very much aware of risks to these grants. An example comes from the management pharmaceuticals. Risks can be found along the whole supply chain process. The GFATM found that, “artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are more commonly targeted for theft or illegal diversion than are antiretrovirals (ARVs) or medicines for opportunistic infections (OIs).”
In fact the GFATM has identified 40 high or very high risk countries, most of which overlap with the list receiving current grant allocations. Therefore while we praise the provision of needed malaria funds for the upcoming three years, we also call on the Global Fund managers, country coordinating mechanisms, grant recipients and watchdogs in civil society and the media to ensure these grants continue to save lives from malaria.