HARARE-23 March 2010-(The Herald) — Government will promulgate a legal instrument to regulate all organisations that are involved in HIV and Aids to effectively co-ordinate the fight against the scourge, Secretary for Health and Child Welfare Dr Gerald Gwinji has said.

Dr Gwinji said there were several non governmental organisations involved in HIV and Aids but were not legally bound to co-ordinate activities with the National Aids Council, hence the need to have a compelling legal statute.

He was giving oral evidence before a Senate Thematic Committee on HIV and Aids.

The committee chaired by Lupane Senator, Dalumuzi Khumalo (MDC) had summoned Dr Gwinji, NAC and the Secretary of Finance Mr Willard Manungo to explain how the Aids levy was being managed.

"We have a number of NGOs carrying out HIV activities, we need to have the National Aids Council Act amended so that all of them will be under NAC," said Dr Gwinji.

"There will always be errant NGOs, those that would by-pass the NAC, so we need a legal instrument that ensures compliance."

NAC chief executive officer Dr Tapuwa Magure said it was critical to ensure that all the NGOs report to them in order to avoid sitting on distorted data.

"At the moment, they are reporting to us voluntarily.

"We need to have the teeth, so we will issue a legal instrument that will ensure that we have the teeth," said Dr Magure.

Turning to Zimbabwe’s HIV prevalence, he said the country had been a model in fighting the scourge.

"A number of countries have come to see how we have managed to reduce our prevalence rate.

"We are now regarded as the best practice in HIV and Aids national response," he said.

NAC collected US$5 million last year in Aids levy and is expected to collect US$8million this year, said Dr Magure.

Half of that money would be used to buy anti-retroviral drugs and testing equipment while the remainder will cover administration and prevention strategies costs among other activities.

He said the assistance from Global Fund had gone a long way in fighting the pandemic.

Responding to questions from Senators, Dr Gwinji said the disbursement of money from the Global Fund through the United Nations Development programme was costly as the organ was charging a percentage for handling the money.

"The Global Fund is now distributing its money through the UNDP because it was not satisfied with our systems.

"There is, however, a loss to it because they charge a percentage and if they are to charge, say, seven percent of US$500 million that is a lot of money," said Dr Gwinji.

Mr Manungo said the Aids levy was collected through the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, which deposits the money into the NAC bank account.

Online at: http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=16824&cat=1

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