Further political fallout from the first round of grants by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria emerged this week as Malawi’s Vice President told Science magazine that his country has been forced to settle for a grant that is likely to total $200 million. An initial plan had projected a budget of $1.6 billion over 7 years to treat 300,000 people with HIV and develop prevention efforts in one of the poorest countries in Africa.
Science magazine reports this week that the World Health Organisation and donor organizations both advised that the application should be scaled down to provide treatment for 25,000 people. In an interview with the magazine’s veteran AIDS reporter Jon Cohen, Malawi’s Vice President Justin Malewezi said “Such a limited access to antiretroviral treatment will only exacerbate tensions in the country, raising the stakes for those left out. Political parties may exploit the situation, thus threatening stability and radicalizing the political landscape.”
The controversy highlights the difficulties that will face the Global Fund as its income continues to be outstripped by demands for support.
The fund has already come into conflict with the South African government
over a grant to the province of Kwazulu-Natal, which the national government argued had been made in order to bypass central government.