Malawi has received a 332 million dollar grant to fight HIV/AIDs and other diseases in the country said President Peter Mutharika on Thursday. The money is a major boost for the struggling public health in the country.
Malawi’s economy and health care has been strained by the high numbers of HIV occurrence in the country, the infections have the highest rates in the world. Hundreds of new HIV infections are registered weekly in the country.
The grant from the International Aid Organization The Global fund was handed to the President in the country’s administrative capital Lilongwe.
“This is the largest allocation to any country in the world and we are grateful for this,” Said President Mutharika in a statement after receiving the grant.
A bulk of the money would be used to procure anti-retroviral drugs providing treatment and the other chunk to go towards fighting malaria and tuberculosis.
According to the Global Fund the grant will enable at least 745 000 HIV patients in Malawi to get treatment by end of 2017
Malawi has made significant progress against HIV/AIDs with HIV prevalence rate drop from 12 percent in 2004 to 10 percent in 2014
Source: News24
