Re: [partnersgf] Global Fund Grants Vs Numbers on Treatment(2)
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[Mods Note: The following posting is in response to information sent in by the Agua Buena Organization on what it has calculated to be Global Fund expenditure against ARV access for people living with HIV for thirteen countries. You can view that posting here: http://eforums.healthdev.org/read/messages?id=4599. In this posting, Celina from Philippines discusses the negative impact of the WHO pre-qualification requirement on the country’s ability to provide ARVs to people living with HIV.]
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I think the best way to monitor the impact of Global Fund money is to check if money given for ARVs and OI [Opportunistic Infections] treatment are really well spent on those two allocations. Positive people who most need to be enrolled into ARV have not actually been timely enrolled. In some of the country cases, the amount of funds requested to purchase ARVs were based on the generic pricing. However the WHO pre qualification requirement is proving to be a bottleneck to the implementation of such. Instead of purchasing generics, countries like the Philippines are forced to get the branded and expensive [ARV drugs]. WHO Philippines was not able to negotiate for the cheaper generic ones which actually works for those who had been taking them even before the birth of the Global Fund. Until now, ARV distribution has not taken place in the Philippines - the funding cycle started in August 2004. The purchase of the more expensive ARVs started to give [different] labels to people living with HIV: branded ones and the generic ones.

Even the purchase of condoms is suffering some constraints in terms of looking for the right and WHO-qualified condoms. [Only condoms bought by the government are exempted from tax] but the Philippine government will not do this considering the pro life stand and a "no to condom" policy being implemented.

W e hope that by the time ARVs and OI treatment are made available [in the Philippines], those who most need it are still alive and can benefit from the drugs.

Celina
palliativerp@yahoo.ca