The Global Fund has given Uganda Shs 1.6 trillion to contribute to the fight against HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria and to build resilient health systems.
In a statement last week, Prof Vinand Nantulya, a member of the strategy committee of the Global Fund board, said the new grant covers a two-year allocation period from 2018 to 2020.
Nantulya noted that HIV/Aids has been allocated Shs 920.2 billion, TB got Shs 75.9 billion while Shs 677.9 billion will go towards the prevention and treatment of malaria.
“This news comes amidst fears that the Global Fund may cut or drastically reduce its aid to Uganda after a November 2015 Global Fund audit revealed millions of unspent monies,” Nantulya, also the chairman of the Uganda Country Coordinating Mechanism for the Global Fund, said in the statement.
“Fortunately, subsequent investigations revealed that although funds absorption was below par, there was no evidence of fraud.”
In November 2015, ten years after Uganda was shaken by the Global Fund corruption scandal involving about Shs 124 billion, an audit report by the office of the inspector general based in Geneva, Switzerland, revealed another plunder of Shs 13.1billion in inflated costs for anti-malaria drugs and lack of accountability.
Subsequently, Global Fund threatened to withdraw aid to Uganda with a warning letter sent to the responsible ministries. The Geneva-based Global Fund had, in 2005, suspended its grants to Uganda after an investigation uncovered evidence of “serious mismanagement” of funds.
However, support to Uganda was reinstated in 2009. Since then, Global Fund has committed Shs 2.8 trillion to the fight against the three diseases in the country. The new allocation brings the total of Global Fund’s support to Uganda since 2009 to about Shs 4.5 trillion.
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