Civil Society Organisation in health, taking care of vulnerable groups are appealing to the government to contribute to the Global Fund, to enable them access funding to take care of their members.
The vulnerable groups are persons living with Human Immune Virus, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria.
The contribution are in two categories the global solidarity contribution; used to replenish the fund and co-financing, often provided by a country when awarded a grant to implement projects.
Executive Director of Hope for Future Generation, Madam Cecilia Lodinu-Senoo, made the appeal at the weekend at a meeting with other leaders of Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) in Accra.
The occasion was used to welcome partners led by Madam Linda Mafu, the Head of Political and Civil Society Advocacy Department, External Relations at the Global Fund.
Madam Lodinu-Senoo said under the category, which each country had a minimum contribution of a million dollars, Ghana had not contributed to it since the fund was instituted.
“What we are saying is simple. For instance, under the global contribution category, if the government put in one million dollars as a contribution then we can access 200 million to support vulnerable people,” she noted.
She said although, Ghana had not contributed to the global fund, the country from the year 2012 to 2019 had received 900 million dollars, while only 600 million dollars had been disbursed.
In her view, the Fund continues to save the lives of many persons living with Human Immune Virus, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
“Many people are alive today because of the Global Fund and if we as a country do not contribute and our Fund is cut, people’s conditions will deteriorate and they will die.
“For example, there are many people currently placed on antiretroviral drugs across the country. There is indoor residual spraying going on in the country as part of efforts of reducing malaria. All these beneficiaries are contributing in one way or the other to the economy of the country and we cannot afford to lose their input.”
Madam Mafu who gave a briefing on the targets of the Global Fund, said the leadership of the Fund hope to maximize impact against HIV, TB and malaria by building resilient and sustainable systems for health as well as promote and protect human rights and gender equality.
In the coming years, she said Global Fund would continue to mobilize increased Resources to scale-up evidence-based interventions with a focus on the highest-burden countries with the lowest economic capacity and on key and vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the three diseases.
Madam Mafu stated that the Fund would strengthen community responses and systems, support reproductive, women’s, children’s, and adolescent health, and platforms for integrated service delivery.
She noted that GF would finance the scaling-up programs to support women and girls, including programs to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights, invest to reduce health inequities including gender- and age-related disparities.
On resources, she said the Fund would work to attract additional financial and programmatic resources for health from current and new public and private sources as well as support countries to use existing resources more efficiently and to increase domestic resource mobilization.
By the year 2025, she said, the Fund aims to at least achieve 75 per cent reduction in malaria mortality rates and case incidence as well as to attain at least 90 per cent of all people with TB diagnosed and all placed on appropriate treatment.
