U.S. doubles HIV/AIDS funding to Malawi

LILONGWE, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The U. S. government has doubled its financial support to Malawi's efforts to fight the HIV/AIDS scourge, bringing the funding to 45 million U. S. dollars every year.

A statement issued Tuesday by the American Embassy in Malawi stated that the U.S. government had committed itself to double the HIV/AIDS financial support for the southern African country following the signing of new framework between the two governments.

The statement said the framework was signed last month by American Ambassador to Malawi Peter Bodde and Malawi's Secretary to the Treasury, Randson Mwadiwa.

"The new pact puts increased focus on reducing new HIV infections, while maintaining ongoing activities aimed at improving the quality of treatment and care as well as mitigating the impacts on individuals and households," said the American Embassy, adding that the stated objectives would be achieved through enhanced Malawian leadership and ownership of the overall response.

Malawi becomes the first country to enter into such an arrangement with the American government following the 2008 re-authorization of the U.S. president's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR II).

PEPFAR I came into force in 2004 when the initial legislation was enacted and since then the U.S. government's total contribution to global HIV/AIDS fight has risen from 2.3 billion dollars to 6 billion dollars in 2008.

The U.S. government is also the largest contributor to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, providing over 33 percent of total contributions.

The Embassy added that the current arrangement would establish a new foundation on which the United States and Malawi would collaborate to improve the health policy environment in Malawi.

"Not only is this the first framework document of its kind, it will serve as the model for those that follow in other countries," said Ambassador Bodde in the statement.

Malawi has since 2005 been providing free AIDS drugs to HIV positive patients with support from the Global Fund. The Fund has since 2003 provided Malawi with over 300 million dollars for HIV/AIDS related activities.

The country, with assistance from the Global Fund, has managed to have about 200,000 HIV positive people on the free life prolonging drugs. Malawi's total number of infected people currently stands at about one million.

Malawi has been making remarkable progress in availing free ARVs to HIV positive people. But the country is still faced with a challenge of keeping the people who have started taking the drugs alive. The country is attempting to address better health outcome for people who are on treatment since 11 percent of adults die fifteen to eighteen months after initiating treatment because of late presentation for care.

Malawi, like other southern African countries, has seen its life expectancy drop from about 60 years in the early 1990s to below 40 years presently due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.