ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: The World Bank is holding back on its commitment to release $70 million to the Ministry of Health for launching a fiveyear project of National Aids Control Programme (NACP) affecting anti-Aids drive, and allocated the funds to projects for the flood- affected people, Dawn has learnt from a senior federal government official.
The official said the Ministry of Health had recently written to the World Bank to release the funds committed in 2009.
The NACP, he said, was given an approval of the project by the Central Development Working Party and the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec). “The PC-I was approved by CDWP and Ecnec but the Aids control officials failed to get a single penny from the bank,” he added.
The project may not be launched without the support of the external donors. It has been learnt that the Department for International Development, UK, had also a share in the $70 million funding which could have channeled through the WB.
But an ill-informed federal health minister defended the position of the World Bank and the DFID over a question asked by Senator S. M. Zafar regarding the blocked funding of HIV/Aids initiative of the federal government.
The minister, Makhdoom Shahbuddin, told the house: “The Global Fund and the World Bank are still committed to providing the financial support for prevention of HIV/Aids in Pakistan.” The minister said both the World Bank and DFID had so for extended Rs2.43 billion for HIV/Aids prevention programme spanning over six years.
The health ministry, he said, was in constant touch with the bank officials and looking for an early release of the fund.
He added that even the assistance of federal government of $20 million was reaching the NACP in phases which had also affected the programme.
The federal official said the bank’s grant was aimed at multiple concerns - treating high-risk group interventions, core support, advocacy and communication, research and surveillance and treatment of Aids patients.
He warned that: “World Bank’s grant was aimed at containing the spread of Aids among injection drug users but its blockade will deteriorate the situation.” The ongoing study of NACP, he said, presented horrifying percentage which had alerted the federal health officials as the number of positive cases was showing an upward trend.
A clinical immunologist based at a public hospital said: “The blockade of funds by the World Bank will adversely affect the identification, treatment and prevention of HIV/Aids patients in Pakistan.” He said the federal government should allocate substantial amount of grant to fight the HIV/Aids.
According to NACP data made available to Dawn, almost 97,000 Aids patients were HIV positive and they were not registered with the NACP, while there were 4,000 registered HIV positive patients.
He said 1,800 HIV positive patients were receiving treatment from the funds provided by the federal government and international donors Global Fund, UNAIDS and World Health Organisation (WHO).Meanwhile, a World Bank official, when approached for comments, directed this reporter to contact another individual for response over the matter.
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