Do more to get funds to fight AIDS, govt told

Kathmandu, April 5:

The government should prepare and present a proposal on global fund for HIV/AIDS only after holding extensive consultations with stakeholders, speakers at an interaction on challenges of global fund said today. The government must submit the proposal by July.

The then government could not get funds during the sixth round of global fund because the proposal failed to meet set criteria.

Rajiv Kafle, joint coordinator of the National Association of People Living with AIDS, Nepal, said we might not get the funds this time as well if the government prepares the proposal on ad hoc basis.

“The government should concentrate more on who should be the principal recipient, structure and composition of the country coordination Me-chanism. “Those depending on Anti-Retroviral Treatment will die if the global fund team discards our proposal this time.” Dr Padam Bahadur Chand, director of the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control, said the government is working towards getting the fund at any cost.