Independent-on-Line, 23 October 2002, KZN's Aids millions still not released, by Kerry Cullinan
It
is still not clear whether people living with HIV/Aids in
The
Global Fund has indicated that from this week it will start to disburse money to
projects approved in its first round of applications - but unless procedural
problems surrounding the KZN grant are cleared up, this province's money will
not come through.
At last month's meeting between Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and Global Fund executive director Richard Feachem, the fund said that its board could not alter grants once they had been awarded.
Tshabalala-Msimang,
who wants the R750-million to be distributed to all nine provinces, agreed to
consult further then advise the fund on how to proceed with the KZN grant.
The
root of the problem, according to the national Department of Health, is that the
Global Fund violated its own rules by awarding the money directly to the KZN
consortium, the Enhancing Care Initiative, when the application should have gone
through the SA National Aids Council (Sanac).
According
to Global Fund rules, unless there are exceptional circumstances all country
applications need to be sent via a multi-sectoral "country co-ordinating
mechanism".
However,
the department only decided to declare Sanac as the "country co-ordinating
mechanism" a few days before the closing date for applications to the fund.