Global Fund Pushes for More Rapid Scale-Up in Indonesia’s TB Grants

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Download PDF The objective of the second phase of two TB grants to Indonesia is to ensure early and full access to the most appropriate diagnosis and treatment services in both the public and private health sectors for everyone suffering from TB. As reported in a previous GFO article, Indonesia was awarded renewal funding of up to $36.3 million by…

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ABSTRACT New and renewal funding of $37.5 million for two TB grants to Indonesia will be used to help ensure early and full access to the most appropriate diagnosis and treatment services. Technical assistance from partners is being provided to allow for a more rapid scale-up of services than Indonesia had originally planned.

The objective of the second phase of two TB grants to Indonesia is to ensure early and full access to the most appropriate diagnosis and treatment services in both the public and private health sectors for everyone suffering from TB.

As reported in a previous GFO article, Indonesia was awarded renewal funding of up to $36.3 million by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for two TB grants: IND-T-MOH ($29.7 million), for which the principal recipient (PR) is the Ministry of Health; and IND-809-G10-T ($6.6 million), for which the PR is the Central Board of Aisyiyah. Indonesia was also awarded $1.2 million in new funding model (NFM) interim applicant funding for the Aisyiyah grant.

When it reviewed the funding requests, the Grant Approvals Committee (GAC) emphasised the need to scale up coverage of TB/HIV and multiple-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). The GAC said that it acknowledged the country’s preference for a gradual approach, as expressed in the request for continued funding. The GAC also acknowledged concerns expressed by the MOH in relation to increasing absorption, and the need to balance rapid scale-up with strengthening financial management systems and programme quality. (Up to the end of Semester 3 of Phase 1, the MOH had absorbed only 50% of the cumulative budget.)

However, the GAC noted that significant investments in technical assistance are being made by partner organisations to complement Global Fund resources. These include support to NGOs to pilot models of care, as well as investments in improving MDR-TB programme quality, and financial management capacity. The GAC added that if the TB programme were able to achieve scale-up and demonstrate an ability to increase absorption, Indonesia would be well placed to apply for additional resources under the NFM.

The GAC noted that the Phase 2 budget does not include any money for first-line drugs (FLD) and said that it expects that Indonesia will continue its full financing of national FLD requirements.

Information for this article was taken from Board Decisions GF-B29-EDP3 and GF-B29-EDP4, and from B29-ER-02, the Report of Secretariat Funding Recommendations for July 2013. These documents are not available on the Global Fund website.