THE National Aids Council (Nac) says Aids Levy is failing to adequately support the national response.
REPORT BY KUPAKWASHE MAKONYE OWN CORRESPONDENT
Nac board chairman David Mutambara last week told a gathering during the World Aids Day commemoration in Beitbridge that as a result of dollarisation, the Aids Levy had become the second largest contributor to the national antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme.
He said the levy supported over 150 000 clients with ARVs and more with services such as CD4 count.
“In terms of equipment, we have procured four CD4 count high throughput machines, 12 CD4 count medium throughput machines, 16 chemistry analysers, 16 hematology analysers and 12 gene expert machines,” he said.
Mutambara said Nac had deployed the levy to address some yawning gaps and provide incentives for workers deployed to scale up initiation of clients on ART around the country.
“This year we have so far received $24,6 million of which $17,4 million was used on treatment, care and support,” he said.
“Specifically, we have funded the procurement of ARVs and OI (opportunistic infections) medicines worth $16,3 million, various equipment worth $561 000 (and) reagents worth $584 000.”
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
“Cumulatively, we have received $77 million since 2009 and have deployed over 69% of this towards treatment, care and support as well as related interventions. We also received new funding support towards PMTCT (prevention fo mother-to-child transmission) , male circumcision and ART, with 60 000 new clients having to be initiated on ART through support from the government of the United States,” Mutambara added.
