Nepal to get US$ 76 m grant aid for AIDS, TB and Malaria programmes

The Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria has pledged US$ 76 million grant assistance to Nepal for programmes to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The grant aid was approved by the sixth board meeting on Monday of the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria in Kunming, China. Nepal will receive US$ 36,620,119 for HIV/AIDS, US$ 15,506,566 for TB and US$ 25,757,233 for Malaria programmes.

“We have worked really hard to prepare these proposals and are delighted to know that the proposal is approved for funding," reports quoted Rajiv Kafle, President of the National Association of People living with HIV in Nepal, who is currently in Kunming as the member of the Global Fund Board delegation, as saying.

The board meeting approved a total of US$ 1.1 billion in new grants for several countries around the world.

The Global Fund is a global public/private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the dominant financer of programmes to fight the three diseases, providing well over 20 percent of all international finance against AIDS and two thirds of global financing for TB and malaria. nepalnews.com mk Nov 13 07