KIGALI, 28 August: The United States is providing approximately 167 million US dollar in official development assistance to Rwanda in 2007 with the largest chunk of it going into HIV/Aids and Malaria programs, statistics released by the US Embassy in Kigali indicate.
The figures show that for 2007 alone, the (tiny) Central African nation will get more than 103 million dollar, up from 72 million in 2006 from President George Bushs emergency plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR). This means about a 31 per cent increase in US money going into different projects targeting HIV.
– The US Government does not provide direct budget support to the Government of Rwanda. All of our funding is program based, Brian George, the US Embassy Public Affairs Officer said. Most of the projects are however managed in collaboration with government.
The general percentage increase in total aid support rose by 40 per cent from the previous year to 167 million dollar.
The announcement coincides with the ongoing three-day trip, which ended Tuesday by Mr. Michael Leavitt – the US Health Secretary in Rwanda since Sunday. Mr. Leavitt visited several health sites in Kigali and met Prime Minister Bernard Makuza.
The funding to Rwanda in 2007 is through the US aid agency (USAID), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of State, and other U.S. Government agencies and departments.
In 2003, President Bush promised 15 billion dollar to fight AIDS over the five years ending in September 2008 – then the largest financial commitment by a nation to battling a disease. Recently, Mr. Bush increased the funding to 30 billion dollar over five years, beginning in October 2008.
The increased commitment Mr. Bush is asking for would pay for AIDS treatment for 2,5 million people in 15 countries, more than double the 1,1 million who now receive treatment through the program.
Through last September, the Bush initiative was paying for anti-retroviral treatment for 822.000 people in the “target countries” including 12 African nations. In Rwanda, up to 30.000 people are getting ARVs from the same plan with a target of more than 50.000.
In June 2005, President Bush launched the Presidents Malaria Initiative (PMI). He pledged to increase US malaria funding by more than 1,2 billion dollar over five years to reduce deaths due to malaria by 50 percent in 15 African countries including Rwanda.
This year alone, Malaria programs funded through Bush Malaria initiative amount to 20 million dollar, the US Embassy said.
US Secretary Leavitt visited the “Twubakane project” in Kigali that according to figures from the US Embassy has so far trained staff in 10 health centers and more than 660 community distributors.
Mr. Leavitt also saw the ES Kicukiro Secondary School that is part of the Health Schools Initiative which is administered by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The program aims at reducing HIV/AIDS incidence among youth aged 15-24 by promoting abstinence and safer sexual behaviors, improving communication among secondary school youth, and providing confidential HIV testing to students who are otherwise unlikely to visit fixed voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) sites.
Phones for Health
In Rwanda, the US is too funding the ten-million-dollar campaign is called “Phones for Health”. Under the plan, health workers use mobile phones loaded with special software to enter information into a central computer system. The workers use Motorola handsets to receive treatment guidelines, order medicines and get training materials.
All sites that provide anti-retroviral treatment in Rwanda access this system, with 17 via the Internet, and 107 via mobile phone.
The “Phones for Health” project in Rwanda was introduced as a model for extending the technology to connect health-information systems in 10 focus countries by 2010. It has already been expanded to Nigeria.
Just last week, Rwanda has launched a 10 million dollar indoor insecticide-spraying campaign to combat malaria in the country supported by the US Malaria initiative.
The pesticide ICON is used in the campaign and health officials are pleased indoor spraying will be an addition to our many solutions to controlling the spread of malaria.
In 2007, Rwanda is further benefiting from the US Department of Defenses 7,2 million dollar defense program under the Africa Contingency Operations Training Assistance (ACOTA) program. 60 percent is for training and 40 percent for equipment.
The country is getting 260.000 dolllar from the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program as well as 220.000 dollar in humanitarian assistance.
Kilder: Rwanda News Agency og The Push Journal
