Board Imposes Conditions on Renewal of India HIV Grant

Author:

David Garmaise

Article Number: 3

Global Fund wants more government funding for ART

ABSTRACT The Global Fund says that increased spending on antiretrovirals by the Government of India is a condition of continued support from the Fund for the next implementation period of a Round 4 HIV grant.

The Global Fund is calling on India to increase government funding for the provision of antiretroviral treatment (ART) for people living with HIV.

The Global Fund is concerned about the sustainability of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) in India because the NACP is relying 100% on Global Fund resources to finance its ART budget. The Fund would like to see India pick up the bill for a significant portion of ART expenses, which would permit Global Fund resources to be re-directed to programmes that support vulnerable and high risk groups, community systems strengthening and accelerated expansion of community based interventions in high prevalence states.

The Global Fund said that it will include a Board Condition in the grant agreement for the next implementation period of a Round 4 HIV rolling continuation channel grant (Grant No. IDA-405-G06-H RCC) requesting an action plan on how India will increase funding for ART “such that Global Fund funding is reduced to a minimum within a reasonable time frame.” Specifically, the Board Condition states:

The CCM shall submit, in form and substance satisfactory to the Global Fund, a sustainability plan for the National AIDS Control Program, including:

1. An action plan describing the National Government’s plan of continuing the increase of its share in funding the National AIDS Control Program such that Global Fund funding is reduced to a minimum within a reasonable timeline;

2. A comprehensive three-year RCC Phase 2 workplan and budget for IDA-405-G06-H RCC that accurately captures the key service delivery areas, goals and objectives of the original proposal and continuation of the main elements of Global Fund support in Phase 1; and

3. A finalized NACP-IV budget with components clearly identified by funding source (including without limitation the National Government and states (if applicable), lenders and other donors), including the planned five-year, US$ 250 million loan from the World Bank for the National AIDS Control Support Project (NACSP).

As its name implies, a “Board Condition” is a condition imposed by the Global Fund Board. It is different from a “regular” condition in that the Board has to agree when a Board Condition is waived or changed. Regular conditions can be waived or changed by senior Secretariat management.

The principal recipient for the Round 4 grant is the Ministry of Finance.

Information for this article was taken from the “Report of the Grants Renewal Panel – November 2012” (Document B28/ER/05). The report contain several decision points which the Board approved by electronic vote in early December. The portion of the report concerning India was for information only; no decision was involved. The report is not available on the Global Fund website.