Coordination &Funding Bill Brieger | 04 Dec 2012 02:17 am
RBM Harmonization Working Group Confronts Malaria Program Challenges
The 13th meeting of the RBM HWG is taking place in
Dakar, Senegal this week. Some thoughts about the. Current status of malaria programs emerged from member experiences and are shared here.
Since the cancellation of the Global Fund Round 11 may have been denied around one billion dollars annually. If funding does not fully resume until 2014, we could be looking at nearly $3B loss.
In the meantime there is need to help countries spent what remains most efficiently. Effort to secure approval for phase two renewal of existing grants is a priority.
Some countries may have many donor partners but still face problems due to lack of coordination. Problems come when countries do not budget for major activities likely implementation of LLIN (net) campaigns. Procurement and supply management problems persist. Stock-outs are the resulting “disease” but we need to find the root causes.
Not all partners bring funds and commodities, but their input is still important. For example Peace Corps has been making important contributions in advocacy and community education.
When there are funding gaps we need to document the impact. Lives may be lost. Advocacy is needed using country case studies.
As malaria prevalence reduces there is still a possibility of outbreaks, especially in context if cross border situations. Better epidemic response planning is needed with full collaboration of neighboring countries. The challenge is that funding is still country based.
Vigilance is needed to determine how the new Global Fund financing processes will affect malaria prospects.