Kenya's war on HIV/Aids has received a major boost after the World Bank
yesterday released Sh300 million to fight the disease.
National Aids Control Council
director Patrick Orege said his organisation will pay out the bulk of
the money -- Sh248 million -- to community-based groups while Aids
control units in various ministries will get the rest.
The Sh300 million is part of
the Sh1.7 billion, which the Bank had earlier withheld until it got an
audit report for the past financial year.
Yesterday, Dr Orege said the
delayed Auditor-General's report for 2002/2003 was expected to be made
available to the Bank yesterday morning.
"I would like to thank the
World Bank for agreeing to release the first tranche of the funding
before receiving the audit report," Dr Orege said.
The director observed: "At the
same time, I would also like to urge the grassroots HIV/Aids groups to
account for funds on time to enable the World Bank release more money to
other groups in our waiting list, whose proposals have been approved".
Dr Orege said NACC expected to
see groups, which benefited from the funds, achieve "positive results"
by scaling up HIV/Aids programmes among local communities and prudently
utilising the money.
Speaking to journalists after
the opening of a workshop by State assistant minister Kivutha Kibwana at
the Hilton Hotel, Dr Orege blamed red tape for the delay in releasing
the audit report.
The World Bank is the leading
donor to the Aids council, and is providing about Sh4 billion ($50
million) over a five-year period.
The loan programme, under the
Kenya national HIV/Aids strategic plan, was signed in 2001 and expires
in 2005. The bank, Dr Orege said, had so far released about 50 per cent
of the funding -- Sh2 billion.
The Head of Public Service, Mr
Francis Muthaura, in a speech read by Prof Kibwana, said the 30 Aids
control units in various ministries had so far received Sh262 million
from NACC.
The civil service boss urged
permanent secretaries to accord "tangible" support to Aids control units
in their ministries.
Meanwhile, an international
conference on how to draw the private sector into the fight against
tuberculosis and HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa started in Nairobi,
yesterday.
The Institute for Global
Health is holding the conference that will explore ways of engaging the
private sector in reaching public health goals for TB and HIV/Aids
within the context of the "Health Franchise International" initiative.
It had drawn participants from more than 25 countries. |