HARARE, 12 March 2010-(The Herald)-HIV and AIDS funding from the donor community has decreased by more than 50 percent since 2006, the National AIDS Council has said.

Though the council refused to give possible reasons for the decline, a senior Health Ministry official said this was linked to "undeclared sanctions".

Presenting the National AIDS Spending Assessment Report for 2006 and 2007 last week, NAC financial director Mr Albert Manenji said donor funding for HIV and AIDS programmes dropped from US$62 million to US$5,5 million from 2006 to 2007.

"Despite the fact that Zimbabwe is in the top five in the region of countries that need assistance, the survey reviewed that in 2006 Zimbabwe had US$7,08 per head against the planned US$16 per head," he noted.

In 2007, expenditure per person went down to US$4,50 against a projection of US$17,66.

This is against average annual per person spending of about US$39 in Lesotho, US$104 in Botswana, US$139 in Swaziland, US$190 in Zambia, US$192 in Mozambique, US$250 in South Africa and US$362 in Uganda.

Some independent estimates have it that on average, donors spend around US$240 per patient in sub-Saharan Africa — a figure 60 times higher than assistance to Zimbabwe. Experts — including the donor community and the United Nations — say from a technical perspective, Zimbabwe’s HIV and AIDS intervention strategies are superior to those of most countries that get more funding per person.

Owing to decreased contributions from donors, total funding from both donors and local AIDS Levy collections dropped from nearly US$90 million in 1996 to US$54,5 million in 2007.

The report shows that major support came from the Global Fund to Fight HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the European Union; the United Nations Population Fund; UNICEF and UNAIDS. While the Global Fund has been the biggest of the donors in the years of decreased extension of assistance, the body has rejected funding proposals five times.

The body has approved three proposals. Between October and December 2009, Zimbabwe collected over US$3 million (60 percent) through the AIDS Levy and received US$2,4 million (40 percent) from donors.

For the period January to December 2009, US$5,1 million (35 percent) came from the AIDS Levy, US$8 million (55 percent) Global Fund, US$1,2 million (8 percent) from the Expanded Support Programme and the remaining US$300 000 (2 percent) from other donors.

"The introduction of the multi–currency (system) in 2009 improved service delivery by NAC. For the first time in two years the council was able to procure anti-retroviral drugs using 50 percent of the resources collected from the AIDS Levy. The move also stabilised the prices of goods and services resulting in better planning and management of the financial resources," Mr Manenji said.

Treatment and care accounted for 64 percent, programming and planning 21 percent, administration 10 percent and capacity building five percent. Mr Manenji said he could not presently give a reason for the decreased assistance.

However, a senior official in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare said: "We are still analysing the report but from a cursory look it is apparent that this is linked to undeclared sanctions on Zimbabwe.

"This is despite the fact that Zimbabwe has some of the best HIV and AIDS intervention strategies in the world but some people just will not support us."

Online at: http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=16359&cat=1