Debrework Zewdie, Deputy Executive Director of The Global Fund
The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) Saturday in Abuja made additional donation to the tune of $217 million for the prevention of malaria with the objective of curbing further spread of the disease in the country.
At a ceremony which held at the Transcorp Hilton, Deputy Executive Director of the fund, Debrework Zewdie, said the funds will target efforts on reducing morbidity and mortality associated with malaria.
Zewdie told the gathering made up of top government functionaries that the $167 million and additional $50 million is meant to assure the international community that Nigeria is a worthy partner in the fight to eradicate malaria.
“The Global Fund is taking steps to increase the impact of its investments. During a transformation of the fund’s grant management structure this year, Nigeria was identified as one of the 20 ‘high impact’ countries that are now receiving special attention.
“The fund is also devising a new funding model that is expected to ensure strategic investment in programmes that can be most effective. For the malaria control programme in Nigeria, we have to prove sceptics who say Nigeria is too difficult in the fight against malaria wrong,” Zewdie explained.
She told journalists that with the funding of Nigeria’s malaria programme now put at about $1.5 billion, the fund will adopt a new mechanism that will monitor the process of implementation with the hope of ensuring accountability and transparency.
Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, while commending the giant strides made by the fund said: “As you know, the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) has been supporting the implementation of interventions targeted at reducing the burdens of the three diseases HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The support of the Global Fund has invariably resulted in the scaling up of interventions against these three diseases and with the solid collaboration from the government of Nigeria we are beginning to see substantial reductions in the mobility and mortality of these scourges.”