FAILURE LAST week by Kenya, which accounts for about 5 per cent of the world Aids cases, to qualify for any assistance from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an indictment of the country's health authorities' lackadaisical approach to health, local health NGOs say.

Following the failure, several local NGOs will meet this week under the auspices of the Kenya Aids Watch Institute (Kawi) to devise ways of accessing the fund's support without involving the government, which they say has failed to offer the necessary leadership.

The official Kenya government's request, which failed to qualify for any support was one of 300 proposals sent to the fund by countries and non-governmental organisations from around the world. It was also one of the 260 rejected outright or deferred by the fund's board which, according to Dr Anders Nordstrom of Sweden, its interim executive director, favoured plans that were "ambitious but realistic."

"Kenya's failure to qualify for funding reflects the dim light in which our country's commitment to fighting these three killer diseases is held by the international community," Dr Chris Ouma, ActionAid's national co-ordinator on HIV and a member of the Kenya Coalition on Access to Essential drugs told The EastAfrican last Friday. "Increasingly, our country is being denied much-needed health sector help because the authorities concerned are not offering the required leadership."

In a statement after last week's announcement, the fund's board said it tried to choose "good projects using proven methods" to support during the first round. The board had issued its first call for proposals in January.

"Less than three months after the Global Fund issued its first call for proposals, it is directing funds where they are needed to help fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria," Dr Chrispus Kiyonga, chair of the Global Fund’s board and minister without portfolio in the Uganda government, said in a statement.

Significantly, although the Kenya government proposal was rejected, those by two non-governmental organisations, the Kenya Network of Women with Aids (Kenwa) and Sanaa Art Promotion, which seeks to raise awareness using murals, among other methods, were accepted.

Also accepted were proposals from the Ugandan and Tanzanian governments as well as others by non-governmental organisations operating there. Among the programmes to be funded in Tanzania is an initiative which provides insecticide-soaked mosquito nets to mothers to prevent malaria. It will pay for two-thirds of the cost of the nets and provide free re-treatment kits that women can use to restore the pesticide protection. Details of all the projects that will be funded will be posted this week on the fund’s Web site at www.globalfundatm.org .

Coincidentally, both Uganda and Tanzania are represented on the fund, with Tanzania's Mr Fidon R. Mwombeki, being the alternate NGO representative from developing countries. Mr Mwombeki is the general secretary of the Northwestern Diocese Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Kenya does not have a representative, as the fund's board does not comprise country-appointed members.

In total, according to a statement released by the fund last week, proposals from 31 countries were accepted, totalling $378 million over two years to 40 projects. Countries getting the most money will include South Africa ($25 million) Zambia, ($20 million), Haiti and Zimbabwe ($10 million each).

The fund’s board said that it would also set up a fast-track process to approve another $238 million for 18 proposals in 12 countries. The proposals, however, have to meet certain technical or procedural requirements, the board said. Significantly, Kenya is not among the countries short-listed by the fund.

"This (additional support) will bring the total funding over two years to $616 million," the Fund said in a statement. "These programmes add up to $1.6 billion over five years."

Kenya's failure to clinch any support from the fund is significant in that of the 28 countries receiving funds to fight HIV and Aids, 21 have grants that specifically include money to buy antiretroviral drugs for people with the disease.

Sources within Kenya's NGO sector say that among the things that are working against the country getting any support for HIV-related programmes from such organisations as the global fund is the fact that the country's Aids programme falls under the Office of the President, and not the Ministry of Health.

Of the $378 million, which was announced last week, 52 per cent will go to programmes in Africa, 13 per cent in the Americas, one per cent to the Eastern Mediterranean, eight per cent to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 12 per cent to Southeast Asia and 14 per cent to the Western Pacific.