Global Fund to Fight AIDS could withdraw funding

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has warned Ukraine of the possible cessation of financing in 2008 of a grant for 150 million USD, as part of a new anti-HIV/AIDS programme for 2007-2012 which was signed in August this year.  This was announced by the Head of the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS Coordination Council Volodomyr Zhovtyak at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday 29 November.

He explained: “Ukraine has still not met the commitments it made to the Global Fund to introduce programmes for methadone replacement therapy for drug addicts. As a result the country faces the real danger of losing external financing for preventive and treatment programmes worth 150 million USD”. He added that the Ministry of Health and the civic organizations who are due to receive the funding were informed yesterday. He said that the first instalment had been paid, but that the next would not be until the replacement therapy programme was instituted.

The Deputy Minister of Health Valery Ivasyuk confirmed that the notification had been received and said that the Ministry of Health had responded very constructively.  They had called together all involved in ensuring a resolution to the problem – the Security Service, Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry itself and had said that the document to ensure the importation of methadone must be prepared urgently.  He said that the Ministry had done all that they could, and it now depended on other departments.

The Global Fund signed an agreement to finance the new anti-HIV/AIDS programme for 2007-2012 in August, with the main recipients being the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine.

The first part of the programme runs from August 2007 to July 2008, with the amount paid coming to 29.6 million. On the basis of the results from this first year, the Global Fund will take a decision regarding further financing.