Global Fund gives US$ 15.5m to Fight Aids

The Western Cape Provincial Department of Health has just received the biggest grant ever given to a provincial department. The grant by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria for the first two-year phase of a five-year programme to strengthen and expand our already comprehensive HIV/AIDS programme, totals US$ 15.5 million (approximately R100 million).

Approval by the Global Fund of the second three-year phase of the grant programme is dependent on the achievements of the Department and its programme partners during the first phase of the programme. The total value of the five-year grant programme will come to US$ 66.5 million (approximately R430 million at the current exchange rate).

At a ceremony in the City handing over cheques to 28 NGO's and CBO's involved in the fight against HIV and Aids, Minister Uys said that this grant will allow these organisations in partnership with the Department to deliver on more treatment, more care and more prevention. "We are confident that this Province has the necessary expertise, infrastructure, commitment and enthusiasm to ensure that the grant programme is successfully implemented."

There are four major objectives to the grant programme:

• To strengthen the current HIV prevention effort by expanding a peer education programme among youth
• To strengthen community based responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic through community mobilisation and the development of local projects to promote awareness, reduce stigma and discrimination and address local effects of the epidemic
• To strengthen an already comprehensive treatment programme through the expansion of the provision of antiretroviral treatment, providing funding for ARV treatment to an estimated one third of eligible patients in the province
• To strengthen palliative in-patient and home-based care services by expanding the already existing network of hospice facilities and their linked home-based care services.

Implementation of the grant programme is the collaborative responsibility of the Department and a large number of partners from provincial and local government and from the non-governmental sector. The programme will provide a much-needed funding boost to the non-governmental sector in the Province.

The Peer Education Programme will be implemented through the Provincial Education Department's HIV/AIDS Unit, working with 10 non-governmental organizations including Lovelife. Virtually all of this programme's funding over the first two-year phase (R12.5 million) will be channelled to the non-governmental partner organisations.

The Community Based Response Programme will be implemented through the Cape Town Municipality and the five District Municipalities in the province. The programme will channel R11.6 million over the two-year period to community-based organisations for the implementation of local projects throughout the province.

The Global Fund grant will be utilised to fund the antiretroviral treatment of patients at six of the province's treatment sites in the first two-year phase of the programme:

• The Site B, Nolungile and Michael Mapongwana clinics in Khayelitsha where the programme is implemented in collaboration with Medicins Sans Frontieres
• The Gugulethu and Masiphumelele clinics where the programme is implemented in collaboration with the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation
• The Crossroads clinic.

The Palliative Care Programme will be implemented by 14 non-governmental organisations, supported by the Hospice Association of the Western Cape. R17 million will be channelled to these non-governmental organisations over the two-year period.

The role and achievements of the Province have been recognised by the Global Fund in the confidence which they have placed in the Province to successfully further expand and strengthen our Programme. It is also a huge boost for South Africa, as the application for this grant was part of a national application approved by the South African National Aids Council and signed by Deputy President Jacob Zuma.

20 October 2004

Contact: Pierre Uys 082 455 5144

Media liaison: Herman van der Westhuizen 082 772 9161