Malawi’s Fight Against HIV/AIDS, Jeopardized

By Raising Malawi on 12.10.10

A new article from Medicins Sans Frontieres, the international humanitarian aid organization better known to some as Doctors Without Borders, warns that due to budget shortfalls, several African countries may be disqualified from HIV/AIDS funding in the near future.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which convenes on December 13, will have the final decision to continue HIV/AIDS funding in many low-income countries in desperate need of continued ARV treatments. As the financial arm for the Millennium Development Goal, the Global Fund has the unique position to:

"Determine to a large extent how close countries come to achieving the health-related MDGs in the coming years," according to Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund.

Unfortunately with many donor pledges falling short, and government organizations pulling their own aid organizations from the field in several countries, the Global Fund may be forced to reject proposals.

This news worries many directly invested in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including Jerome Oberreit, MSF's Operational Director.

"Today's funding situation is nothing short of a crisis. If donors rely on the Global Fund to act as the last standing domino piece in the fight against HIV, they need to provide it with the necessary resources to respond according to needs ... in the absence of firm political commitments, the Global Fund will be forced to ration its funding and in turn, AIDS prevention and treatment."

Without the continued donations of past years, and the full commitment of world leaders, proposals will face greater scrutiny and may be rejected in the latest round of fund replenishments.

"MSF is seriously concerned that several low-income countries with high HIV-prevalence, such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho, risk being denied funding for HIV and TB in this round."

Malawi has made greater access to AIDS treatment a priority, and worked closely with the WHO to craft a forward-thinking plan to treat AIDS at all stages. With nearly 225,000 Malawians undergoing treatment countrywide, cutting funding short would take a disastrous toll on their forward progress.

Raising Malawi has worked closely to address the paramount issue of HIV and AIDS in Malawi, working to give over 66,000 children and caregivers living with HIV/AIDS, malaria, or other diseases life saving treatments and care.

Working one step at a time to increase global awareness, sustaining ongoing projects with your donations, and volunteering your time to tackle this difficult issue are just a few ways that you can get involved.