Analysis.
The $20.4 million in interim applicant funding approved for Cameroon (first announced in this GFO article) will be used exclusively to procure antiretrovirals (ARVs), related health products and medicines to treat opportunistic infections. The money will be added to an existing HIV grant, CMR-011-G11-H, for which the principal recipient is the Ministry of Public Health (MPH), to be used over the remaining ten months of Phase 1 of that grant.
When the transition phase of the new funding model (NFM) was launched, $81 million was allocated for Cameroon. However, the Global Fund chose to award only $20.4 million at this time and to consider awarding the remaining $60.6 million at the time of Phase 2 renewal in 2014. The Global Fund is concerned about two things: (1) Cameroon has been experiencing recurrent ARV stock-outs; and (2) the Government of Cameroon is not meetings its ARV funding commitments.
According to Antoine Ambassa Bekolo, M&E officer at FIS (For Impacts in Social Health), an NGO, Cameroon also needs to reassure the Global Fund Secretariat that it is able to quantify its ARV needs. "The Global Fund prefers to be cautious before committing more money," Mr Bekolo said. He added that it became evident during the last joint mission by the Global Fund and the (US) President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in June 2013 that Cameroon does not even know the exact number of patients on ARV treatment.
