Window of Hope Opens for People Living With HIV/Aids

It is not a hidden fact that Malawi has been badly affected by the HIV/Aids pandemic.

Encouragingly, there are a number of initiatives employed by government and its numerous stakeholders to address this. It is therefore not surprising, that these efforts are bearing positive results and there are signs that things are beginning to change for the better.

Through these untiring efforts, more people are now aware of the disease and new evidence shows a declining trend in national adult HIV prevalence rate in the country. Malawi has a current official rate of 14% prevalence that indicates a decline of new HIV infections.

It is against this background that after noticing the good work the country has done so far and continues to do to fight increased infections that the Global Fund has qualified Malawi to apply for continued funding from the Fund for the Round One grant, under the new funding mechanism called the Rolling Continuation Channel (RCC).

Explaining the qualification of the grant, Chairperson of the Malawi Global Fund Coordinating Committee Randson Mwadiwa said the development has come about due to, among other things the sustained strong performance, evidence of the potential for impact and programmatic sustainability.

"The Global Fund conducted a very extensive review of all Global Fund grants that will be expiring between1st July to 30th September 2008 to determine which country grants would qualify to apply for continued funding under the RCC," explained Mwadiwa adding. "And Malawi's round one HIV and Aids Grant successfully qualified to apply for continued funding under the RCC."

For Malawi to qualify, says Mwadiwa, the Global Fund has noted clear evidence of, or potential for impact of its financial contribution to the national response against HIV and Aids.

He observed the development has also come about because of continued coordination and collaboration amongst the National Aids Commission (NAC), as a principal recipient for the funds, development partners, and all grant recipient and implementing organisations.

"The programmes funded through this grant continue to present convincing evidence of performance, impact, or the potential for impact on the general population; the specific target groups such as people living with HIV; orphans and other vulnerable children; youths; people of the reproductive age group; antenatal attendees; ART patients and TB patients," he said

The Chairperson applauded the Global Fund for the first grant saying has contributed to an increase in the number of people tested for HIV from about 40,000 in the year 2002 to about 1.8 million people at present.

He added that the number of people on the antiretroviral treatment (ART) has increased from 4,000 in 2004 to over 100,000 by June 2007.

"We have also prudently used the funds to scale up Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) and HIV testing sites throughout the country to 140 and 352, respectively.

"This is why recently, there are more pregnant women accessing PMTCT services and more people testing for HIV. In addition, there has been an increased number of people, particularly, orphans and other vulnerable children that have been reached with financial, material and psychosocial support," Mwadiwa emphasised.

Principal Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet Mary Shawa described the development as a relief to the people of this country.

"People have been saying ARVs would end and this in turn would give the country a lot of problems. Obviously this is a welcome development because people were very anxious to know whether the Global Fund would continue," she said. "We will basically continue with what we have been doing so far but we will also look at other areas that need expanding."

On the other hand, the principal secretary advised people to develop a culture of going to the hospital as soon as they fell sick.

"The majority of people take too long before seeking a health facility," she complained. "We need to change our attitude, let us visit the hospital as soon as we feel sick."

Nicholas Chitimba, NAC Chairperson says the country should feel proud because qualifying for the grant has not been easy.

"This is no mean achievement and as a country we have to feel proud. It has not been easy to qualify for the funding. We should part ourselves on the back and continue performing the way we are doing," he said.

Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria approved Malawi's round one HIV and Aids Grant amounting to US$178 million to the National Aids Commission (NAC) over a five-year period from the year 2003.