Gov’t receives $379m Global Fund aid

KIGALI - Rwanda has received $379 million grant from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. An agreement, paving way for the disbursement of the HIV single stream funding, was signed yesterday between the government that was represented by the Ministers of Health and Finance and officials from the Global Fund. The money will enable the ministry and its partners scale up coverage of care and treatment of HIV/AIDS and will be implemented through both the public, private institutions and the civil society. Speaking at the signing, Health Minister Dr. Richard Sezibera said that the ministry, as the principal recipient of this grant, is committed to ensure its effective and efficient implementation of this Grant through Sub recipients from public and private institutions and civil society organizations. “The Ministry will continue to collaborate with all development partners whose financial commitments were taken into account at the time of submission of the HIV financial gap to the Global Fund, “he said. He explained that, the grant is going to be disbursed up to 30 June 2013 and it will help in scaling-up the coverage of care and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS, social support for children orphaned and/or made vulnerable due to HIV. “It will implement targeted HIV prevention programmes for Most At Risk Populations (MARP), strengthen HIV prevention through male circumcision, Post Exposure Prophylaxis for clinical and non clinical settings, and scale up of quality STI treatment,” Minister added. The grant will help in strengthening community-based care and the health system with critical intervention such as the PBF programme. It will also be used to construct maternities in the perspective of integration of HIV and reproductive health, renovation and strengthen District pharmacies to support good supply chain management. Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, the Executive Director Global Fund, hailed Rwanda for performing very well in using resources of the global fund. “The performance of Rwanda is attributed to the remarkable leadership of President Paul Kagame and the entire Rwandan society,” he said. “If the current pace is maintained, Rwanda is one of the countries in Africa that should be able to meet the health related MDG’s by 2015 and I am sure this grant will enable the country achieve those goals.” Ends

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Gov’t receives $379m Global Fund aid