Sustainable AIDS Trust Fund starts working next year

SUSTAINABLE fund raising for the AIDS Trust Fund (ATF) is set to begin next year, a move expected to bring relief after reduced donor funding to HIV/Aids projects, the government said yesterday.

This will be upon the strategic meeting between the Tanzania Commission for Aids (TACAIDS) and members of board of trustees for ATF to be held next January. 

 

TACAIDS Executive Director, Dr Leonard Maboko, said the above yesterday at a press conference in Dar es Salaam during which he highlighted achievements made by the commission for the past five years.

“From the meeting, we are going to strategise on how to raise funds for the ATF. This will include coming up with a concrete timetable for countrywide fundraising campaigns and strategies,” Dr Maboko said.

The Tanzanian HIV response is heavily reliant on foreign funding, with 97.5 per cent coming from foreign donors. 

The ATF was launched during the World Aids Day on December 1 by the Vice-President, Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan, after it was established in July then followed by the appointment of members of the board of trustees. At the launching event, the Fund raised 348m/-, including pledges and cash donations from individuals and private companies.

Since then, there was no additional donation made to the fund from the community to support the ATF meets its objectives. But, Dr Maboko said the appointed members of board trustees who are mandated to formulate the strategies to raise fund, met for the first time only to discuss the launching of the ATF.

Since the Fund had already been launched, the members are going to meet for the second time in January to find ways for resource mobilisation. He said after this meeting, the ATF will be travelling to every region to motivate the people to contribute and the move will go hand in hand with the media campaigns.

“The aim is to ensure that people do not wait until fund-raising event,” he said. But, Dr Maboko explained that donation to the Fund is currently ongoing and the door is open for individuals to contribute.

He called upon members of the public, private and government institutions to donate.

According to the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), more financial resources are needed in order to scale-up Tanzania’s HIV response, especially in line with new WHO treatment guidelines and with the adoption of option B+. More resources are also needed to ensure that proper monitoring and reporting systems are in place for transparency of funding.