Global Fund Declines To Approve Additional Funding for Malaria Initiative in Senegal

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Tuesday announced that it has declined to approve funding for a second-phase grant to combat malaria in Senegal because of the country's "poor performance in fighting the disease," VOA News reports (Schlein, VOA News, 3/2). The initial grant had a proposed budget of $7.1 million over five years; however, the fund only commits to funding for an initial two years and conducts a review of agreed-upon performance targets during that time period. Therefore, continued funding for the remainder of the proposal period is dependent on "satisfactory performance" as measured against the performance targets, according to a Global Fund release (Global Fund release, 3/1). "In the case of the Senegal malaria grant, that was not happening at the rate of progress that we could be satisfied with," fund spokesperson Jon Liden said, adding, "In many grants we have some signs of slow progress. So, we are not being draconian about this. But with the malaria grant to Senegal there were some fatal flaws ... so we thought there was not hope for this grant" (VOA News, 3/2). Although the review of the malaria grant in Senegal "raised serious concerns as to its effective use of Global Fund resources," the fund's decision does not indicate a rejection of Senegal's future funding needs or of other ongoing grants in the country, according to the release. In addition, the Global Fund "strongly encouraged" Senegal to address any problems with the program and reapply for funding in future rounds. The fund's fifth proposal round will begin accepting applications on March 17, and the fund's board will approve grants at its meeting at the end of September (Global Fund release, 3/1).