‘Donors and African governments are making callous and unwise decisions on funding commitments to HIV and global health’ said activists.
The accusation comes as African leaders convene for the World Economic Forum on Africa in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Vuyiseka Dubula, general secretary of Treatment Action Campaign highlighted the benefits of initiatives such as the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFA) – whose futures are all unclear due to cutbacks.
‘Thanks to the combined effort of the Global Fund and PEPFAR, more than 5 000 lives a day have been saved for the past ten years. But we know that the success does not end there,’ she said.
Activists said years of scientific evidence demonstrated that HIV funding strengthened health systems, improved maternal and child health and reduced prevalence of TB.
Enough funding could see an eradication of babies being with HIV by 2015.
‘If we do not invest adequately to sustain and build on this hard-won success, then we are effectively dismissing the right to health and throwing out the health-related Millennium Development Goals,’ said Dubula.
Activists said there was increasing hostility towards funding the universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care that had been promised by leaders worldwide. Paula Akugizibwe from the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa said the significant public health and socio-economic gains did not seem to convince funders of the need to sustain the scale up of HIV programs.
‘We have heard every line in the book from funders except the truth ‘ namely, that because HIV treatment is expensive, they are no longer interested in universal access. This is callous and short-sighted, and sets an unacceptable precedent for the global response to costly health needs in the future such as drug-resistant tuberculosis,’ she said.
Findings from an International Treatment Preparedness Coalition report suggest that persistent funding cutbacks could once again see HIV becoming ‘a death sentence’ for people in the developing world.
Research by various institutions including the World Bank revealed that the cost of neglecting HIV and other health needs was greater than the immediate costs associated with an adequate response to the health needs.
Florence Umunna-Ignatius from Nigerian group Positive Action from Treatment Access said African countries including Nigeria and Uganda had suffered numerous consequences as a result of cutbacks.
Shortages of test kits prevented people in Nigeria from testing and accessing treatment. Similar incidences occurred in Uganda where those in need of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to survive were turned away from clinics as a result of flat-line PEPFAR funding. The National AIDS Commission in Nigeria recently announced that the treatment of the 350 000 in need of treatment was unaffordable.
James Kamau of the Kenyan Treatment Access Movement said it was sad that these decisions had been made a matter of political sport.
‘In 2001 in Abuja, African heads of state promised us 15% of budget spending on health ‘ where is this money?’ he asked.
He blamed leaders of wasteful spending. ‘The true colossal mistakes are the wasteful spending habits of many governments who prioritise wars, luxury for politicians and sports over social spending, which cost thousands of lives every day.’
Kamau waved satirical bills that highlighted such examples including the cost of Uganda President Yoweri Museveni’s private jet which could have bought HIV treatment for over 200 000 people.
During the forum the leaders are under pressure to adequately plan towards achieving the Abuja target of committing 15% of funding towards health. Activists called for leaders to ensure more transparent and accountable use of health funding and for world leaders, particularly the G8 and G20 to fully replenish the Global Fund in October 2010. They also urged President Obama to ensure that PEPFAR supported the addition of new patients onto treatment in the future.
