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The Global Fund Signs Three New Grants to Djibouti

From left to right: Mr Miguil Abdallahi Abdallah, Minister of Health of Djibouti; Dr Nosa Orobaton, Director of Operations at the Global Fund; Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund; Mr Carl Manlan, Program Officer at the Global Fund and Mr Omar Ali Ismail, Executive Secretary of Executive Secretariat of the Fight against AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis in Djibouti.

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Geneva - The Minister of Health of Djibouti, Mr Miguil Abdallahi Abdallah, and the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Professor Michel Kazatchkine, today signed three new grants worth more than US$ 18.5 million to fight the three diseases in the country.

“These new resources bring our fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to another level.” Mr Abdallah, the country’s Minister of Health said. “They provide new hope for a better future for the many people suffering from the three diseases in Djibouti and they will help us to strengthen our efforts to create awareness of and change behavior that can lead to HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.”

The newly signed grants bring the total number of Global Fund grants in Djibouti to four, with a total value of more than US$ 30.5 million over five years. A Round 4 grant to fight HIV/AIDS in the country worth almost US$12 million started implementation in March 2005 and has already shown tremendous promise and substantial impact in the fight against the disease. Global Fund support in Djibouti is strengthening Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), prevention efforts, services for the general population and the provision of care and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. More than 600 people are now receiving preventive care and treatment for opportunistic infections while approximately 700 patients with advanced AIDS are receiving antiretroviral treatment.

“The Government of Djibouti has already proved to be a strong implementer in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the country through one of our grants,” said Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “I am confident that Djibouti will make the best use of these additional Global Fund resources to strengthen their fight against HIV and AIDS even more and to scale up their battles against malaria and tuberculosis. Many Djiboutians are depending on it.”

The three new grants will be used for the provision of free drugs to people suffering from HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and the distribution of Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets (ITNs) to pregnant women and children. Resources will also be put to use to promote voluntary counseling and testing for HIV and to develop communication materials to change behavior and create awareness about the three diseases.

To date, tens of millions of people around the world have already been reached with life-saving services provided through the Global Fund. Programs benefiting from Global Fund resources have provided antiretroviral treatment to 770,000 people with HIV, treated 2 million people with effective tuberculosis medications and distributed 18 million insecticide-treated bed nets to protect children and families from malaria.

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The Global Fund is a unique global public/private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities represents a new approach to international health financing. The Global Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts dealing with the three diseases.

The Global Fund has approved grants for 450 programs in 136 countries with a total commitment of US$ 7.1 billion. As of December 2006, 770,000 people have begun antiretroviral (ARV) treatment through Global Fund-supported programs and nearly 18 million insecticide-treated bed nets have been distributed to prevent malaria. In addition, tuberculosis programs have detected and treated 2 million TB cases under DOTS, the internationally-approved TB control strategy.

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