Johannesburg, June 14: United Nations AIDS agency (UNAIDS) has said Malawi is a model in the fight against AIDS whose credible efforts and successes prompted the Global Fund to release a total of over US$611 million which is US$37 million more than what the country applied for.
The endorsement comes against a backdrop of a spate of reports that the global financier would not support the country.
UN AIDS Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Michel Sidibe said in an interview with Mana after holding a meeting with Malawi’s President Professor Peter Mutharika in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Sidibe said Malawi has progressed from trailer to leader in the fight against HIV.
He said strides made by Malawi in reducing the spread of HIV to babies through the option B on putting all HIV positive pregnant mothers on automatic Ante Retro Viral treatment has made the country a beacon of hope and standard for countries worldwide.
“Malawi is model for us all. Malawi has in the course of fighting HIV/AIDS been able to demonstrate that we can completely change the course of this epidemic. We have to remember that few years ago in Malawi, people were not on treatment. People were dying in hospitals, but now we have almost a 500,000 people on treatment.
“And because of the credibility of the treatment, we have been able to work with Global Fund to release US$600 million which is the highest ever from Global Fund to Africa,” said Sidibe.
He added, “Malawi is a country where people are now going to learn from the program approach because Malawi took a risk. Malawi was the first country to introduce B plus option making sure that all pregnant women that were HIV positive were put on treatment automatically.”
Sidibe said the Malawi pilot on the treatment of women, backed by research has confirmed that it is the best model which the UN body is bound to adopt.
Sidibe said looking at the rate at which the infection is reduced in Malawi; the country would have no babies born with HIV by the end of 2015.
He however called on Malawi president and other African leaders to consider revisiting the support for ART as currently they rely on support from abroad saying serious investment in production and procuring of ARVs by African states may avert a future HIV treatment crisis.
Mutharika said the success of Malawi was hinged on the commitment and support from various organisations working in Malawi coupled with an enabling environment which he said his government was going to extend.
“Malawi pioneered the program of option B plus and has achieved 67 per cent decline in cases of mother to child transmission of HIV infections. I think it is the highest for most countries in the world.
“We are extremely proud about that, but we are grateful to the Global Fund that has supported us and it is encouraging because all the money that we applied for, you actually give us US$37 million more. A total of US$611 million which we feel humbly that it reflects your perception and the Global Fund’s perception of what we are doing,” said Mutharika.
Following the revelations, Malawi is also scheduled to present its success story during the UN General Assembly focusing on interventions and the way forward.
Malawi has about 82 per cent access to ARVs with slightly over 500,000 people on ART most of whose drugs are dependent on donor support.
