Kabul, Nov 26, 2008: Ministry of the Public Health of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan submitted a proposal to one of the greatest donors of the health sector in the world - the Global Fund. The proposal is recently approved. Global Fund is one of the main donors for the control of three fatal diseases TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS. Afghanistan proposal contained help to TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS programs. Total approved budget within the proposal is around 117 million USD for 5 coming years. Around 33.7 million USD out of the mentioned total budget is allocated for TB, 63.3 million USD for Malaria program and 20 million USD for Health Strengthening System.The above mentioned budget will be implemented within 5 years, starting from April 2009 to March 2014. Annual expenses will be paid according to accurate executions. The proposals for these programs were prepared based on the strategic plans of the named programs which includes delivery of services, training of individuals, supply and equipments, community awareness, treatment on community level, program-related investigations, distribution of bed nets and monitoring. Within the proposal Health Strengthening System (HSS) includes establishment of 12 nursing schools on community base, establishment of laboratories in 152 basic health centers all over the country and strengthening of Health Management and Information System (HMIS) country-wide.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Afghanistan has been lucky enough to win previous few rounds of the Global Fund. The support from fund has dramatically changed our vision and ambitions in fight against HIV, Malaria and now adding HSS. We have so far secured more than 100 M US$ in total. The subsequent rounds from R-2, the first ever grant approved for us is the proof of our good performance, as this is purely performance based grants. The achievement is day and night efforts by program managers and their supervisors in MoPH. I, on this august floor would like to thank the Global Fund for reaching us in very difficult days of transition. The CCM members present here need applauds for their guidance and support" Said Dr S. M. Amin Fatime the Minister of Public Health of the Islamic Government of Afghanistan. He also added "I wish the partnership all the best, assure full support of MoPH and request the board to keep their enlightening guidance for the betterment of the program."
As well, MoPH through TB CAP which is a 5 year project that helps 39 countries of the world in areas of management and leadership capacity building on TB National Control Program and assures the qualified implementation of TB treatment in health centers and the community level. This project is funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID). TB CAP project in Afghanistan is in its preliminary phases of functioning, but will officially start working in near future.
The first phase of the project is for two years and the approved budget for its first year is 3.2 million USD. In the first phase of capacity building of TB National Program in 13 provinces of the country where the implementation of Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS) is funded through USAID, implementation of TB treatment on community level in 4 provinces (Heart, Badakhshan, Baghlan and Jozjan) where TB incidents are prominent, strengthening of diagnosis and treatment system of TB in Kabul province and strengthening of cooperation with private sector in Kabul province are considered. The second phase of the project based on evaluation of the first phase will be expanded to other provinces of the country.
Ministry of Public Health delivers health services impartially and without any form of discrimination to the needy people of Afghanistan in all corners of the country and requests all parties to respect this policy and support health care providers to fulfill this noble job.