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Govt is spending enough on Aids: Idasa
2004-04-01

Government funding for HIV/Aids programmes is sufficient in terms of the country's current spending capacity, an Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) unit manager says. The national treasury is on board, there is no doubt about its political willingness. And the funding is there, Alison Hickey, Idasa's Aids budget unit manager, told an HIV/Aids seminar in Pretoria.

Government funding for HIV/Aids programmes is sufficient in terms of the country's current spending capacity, an Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) unit manager says. The national treasury is on board, there is no doubt about its political willingness. And the funding is there, Alison Hickey, Idasa's Aids budget unit manager, told an HIV/Aids seminar in Pretoria.

If there is any holding back it is due to concerns over whether the money will be spent.

Asked if government was spending enough money on Aids, she drew a distinction between what was considered to be enough for the country's needs and that which could be effectively spent. Yes, it is enough in terms of our current capacity. And when it comes to what is needed for the country, I am sure that will be available too -from the government and the donor community.

Hickey told the seminar there had been an increase in provincial spending from conditional grants received from the national government. In the 2000/01 budget year, 36% of the money was spent. This rose to 74% the following year and 85% in the next - excluding roll-over funds.

Referring to an extra sum of R1.1 billion allocated to provinces in a so-called equitable share fund in the 2003/04 financial year, she said 32% of that money was spent last year on Aids.

Hurdles
Nhlanhla Ndlovu, an Idasa researcher, said a lack of management expertise, staff shortages and unnecessary bureaucracy were hindering provincial Aids spending. Tender processes were very long and delayed the transfer of money to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) running the programmes. There was also no proper NGO monitoring system, making it difficult to measure the impact and outcome of stated objectives. 

While funding for provincial health services has increased, it was difficult to establish if this flowed directly into HIV/Aids projects. There needed to be better transparency and accountability regarding what provinces were allocating to HIV/Aids from their own budgets.

Ndlovu recommended the government should invest more in building capacity to spend HIV/Aids funds, especially financial management skills. There should also be more effective communication and co-ordination channels between government departments. According to Hickey, the government was doing very well in terms of spending on HIV/Aids.

Two things are happening you are actually seeing more allocations and you are also seeing more ... political commitment, certainly from the national treasury, to increase the resources available. - (Source: Sapa, Sabcnews, March 31, 2004) 

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