{"id":10136,"date":"2020-02-05T14:04:57","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T18:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plataformalac.org\/?p=10136"},"modified":"2020-02-05T14:05:03","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T18:05:03","slug":"the-global-fund-allocated-19-8-million-to-combat-the-malaria-crisis-in-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/2020\/02\/the-global-fund-allocated-19-8-million-to-combat-the-malaria-crisis-in-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"The Global Fund allocated $ 19.8 million to combat the malaria crisis in Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\nSource: <\/strong>pvvihsida_red_hispana<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBy: <\/strong>Javier\nHourcade Bellocq<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January\n27, 2020 (Toronto, Canada and Caracas, Venezuela) – On January 16,\n2020, the Global Fund sent a letter to the Venezuelan Ministry of\nHealth, informing the allocation of a $19.8 million USD grant for\nthree years to fight against malaria. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nis the first time that the GF has allotted resources to Venezuela.\nThe allocation is the result of a decision of the World Fund Board in\nMay 2019 considering that Venezuela, a high middle income country\n(according to the World Bank’s rating), was exceptionally eligible to\nreceive funds against malaria1<\/sup><\/a>.\nThe exception is due to the significant increase in malaria cases in\nthe country; the possibility that this outbreak will further deter\nthe health situation, with a significant increase in cases in 2019;\nthe impact it is having on the sub-region and the lack of national\ncapacity to respond to this outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated approximately\n471,995 cases of malaria in Venezuela (404,492 confirmed), compared\nwith 57,926 in 2010. More recent data shows that, between January 1\nand June 22 2019, 208,027 cases of malaria were reported in 21\nstates. Venezuela currently accounts for 51% of all cases of malaria\nin the Americas. It is estimated that another 14 million people are\nat risk, and the number of deaths from this disease has increased\nalmost eight times since 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICASO\nand ACCSI applaud the news of malaria allocation for Venezuela. Grant\nresources will provide treatment and prevention services that will\nsave the lives of thousands of people, and will significantly\nstrengthen the laboratory and surveillance capacity of the health\nsystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nthere is a potential and significant financial gap that is a cause\nfor concern. The Master Plan of Venezuela (which guides work on HIV,\nTB and Malaria with GF and other resources) for the period 2020-2021,\nestimates that the total financial needs for the two years in\nresponse to malaria in Venezuela are of $ 32.3 million US dollars.\nBeyond the Global Fund investment, there are no other internal or\nexternal resources available. The anticipated deficit represents more\nthan $ 12.5 million and may be one of the causes of the deepening of\nthe malaria crisis in Venezuela and in neighboring countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise,\nthere are barriers to the meaningful participation of civil society\nand the affected communities concerned. The humanitarian emergency in\nVenezuela is highly politicized and is used as a government strategy\nfor repression. Police has raided HIV service organizations and there\nare persecutions and arrests of human rights defenders and activists.\nIn this context, the implementation of allocated funding and the\nsupervision of this grant are quite unlikely to include multiple\nstakeholders, ensuring that they are democratic in nature. In fact,\nthe letter of assignment to Venezuela indicates that “the Global\nFund will coordinate the development of the financing request”,\nnot a Country Coordination Mechanism. Alternative governance\nmechanisms of the Global Fund are needed to ensure that civil society\nand communities participate meaningfully in the design and delivery\nof the malaria grant, in the context of countries in crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally,\nmore support is needed for civil society and communities to influence\nand promote a request to the government for accountability. The\nlessons learned from the Fund’s recent investment to respond to HIV\nin Venezuela (another exceptional investment) proved the Importance\nof community monitoring. The Venezuelan Network of Positive People\n(RVG +) has documented numerous irregularities in the storage and\ndistribution of different medications throughout 2019. Likewise,\ncommunity monitoring ensured that the drugs donated by the Global\nFund will reach people living with HIV, as approved. For all this,\nreserved funds should be allocated in the new Global Fund malaria\ngrant to fund community monitoring activities. Other partners must\nalso invest in these vital controls, to ensure that the resources of\nthe Global Fund in Venezuela are used effectively, efficiently and\nappropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary\nAnn Torres, Executive Director of ICASO showed her approval for\nglobal solidarity towards the malaria crisis in Venezuela. “The\nallocation for malaria is a significant milestone in the sustained\nadvocacy efforts of technical experts and community activists from\nVenezuela, and their allies throughout the world,” Torres said.\n“Together, we put pressure on the Global Fund to make an\nexception to the eligibility policy. Now, we will continue to support\nour partners in the country to ensure transparency and accountability\nfor these resources, which have cost so much to ensure”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alberto\nNieves, Executive Director of ACCSI, declared: “We are very\nhappy with the GF decision to support initiatives against malaria,\nand thus protect the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in\nour country. We are pleased that our efforts in community monitoring\nare being valued and we are committed to continue monitoring the\nsituation. We also welcome the decision of the Global Fund to invest\ndirectly in Venezuela, where an emergency is taking place”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Even\nthough providing resources from the Global Fund for malaria will help\nalleviate the situation, significant additional financial resources\nfrom other sources will be needed. Existing resources will not be\nsufficient to contain this bout; in addition to the necessary changes\nin the political situation, the only tools for malaria to be again\nunder control in Venezuela,” stated Javier Hourcade Bellocq, a\nmember of the Latin American and Caribbean delegation to the Global\nFund Board .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICASO\nis a Canadian organization acting as a global voice on HIV issues\nthat impact diverse communities around the world. Our political\nadvocacy will lead the leadership of civil society and key\npopulations in a joint effort to end the AIDS epidemic. We do this\nthrough partnerships with people and organizations in all regions and\nwith various sectors, always with the vision of serving and\nempowering communities. www.icaso.org<\/a>\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citizen\nAction Against AIDS (Acci\u00f3n Ciudadana Contra el SIDA, ACCSI) is a\nVenezuelan organization that works to ensure effective and\ncoordinated strategies to protect, promote and defend the human\nrights of people living with HIV and other key and vulnerable\npopulations. www.accsi.org.ve<\/a>\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/a>\n\tThe Global Fund Eligibility Policy uses the WHO malaria burden data\n\tfor the year 2000 to determine eligibility for high-middle-income\n\tcountries (since data from this period is the best metric to assess\n\tthe potential of a country for malaria transmission intensity).\n\tBased on these metrics, Venezuela would not be eligible to receive\n\tmalaria funds from the Global Fund. In May 2018, the policy was\n\trevised to include a clause that allows technical partners to\n\trecommend to the Global Fund Secretariat that a country be eligible\n\tfor a malaria allocation for a specific allocation period, in case\n\tof a significant increase in Malaria cases in a not eligible\n\tmiddle-income country. This clause was successfully invoked to make\n\tVenezuela eligible for malaria financing in 2020-2022. \n\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: pvvihsida_red_hispana By: Javier Hourcade Bellocq January 27, 2020 (Toronto, Canada and Caracas, Venezuela) – On January 16, 2020, the Global Fund sent a letter to the Venezuelan Ministry of Health, informing the allocation of a $19.8 million USD grant for three years to fight against malaria. This is the first time that the GF […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[66,74],"tags":[],"anho":[],"autor":[],"publicado_por":[],"palabras_clave":[],"class_list":["post-10136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-response-aids-tb-malaria","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10136"},{"taxonomy":"anho","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/anho?post=10136"},{"taxonomy":"autor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/autor?post=10136"},{"taxonomy":"publicado_por","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publicado_por?post=10136"},{"taxonomy":"palabras_clave","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plataformalac.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/palabras_clave?post=10136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}