NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, July 12, 2013

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria signed grant agreements on Tuesday with Namibia for $91.6 million to support the national response to HIV and $8.5 million for malaria programs.

Programs supported by the HIV grants will be jointly implemented by Namibia’s Ministry of Health and by NANASO, a network of AIDS service organizations. The program will focus on high impact interventions, including the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV, basic prevention for men who have sex with men and sex workers, targeted behavioral change communication, HIV counseling and testing, condom promotion and distribution and treatment, care and support.

“We are very pleased to be signing these grants, which will allow us to continue to improve the quality of health of our people in Namibia,” Richard Kamwi, Namibia’s minister of health, said. “The Global Fund continues to be an important partner in our country, and we are committed to continue investing in this fight. Our government is currently funding 75 percent of (antiretroviral) treatment and we thank the Global Fund for funding the remaining 25 percent. Thanks to this support we were able to reach 85 percent coverage in March last year.”