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3D fund provides TB drugs worth $3m
(Volume 26, No. 513)
THE Three Diseases Fund has provided US$3 million of anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs to the Ministry of Health through the World Health Organisation (WHO), the fund said in a statement last week.
The drugs will be distributed to the National Tuberculosis Program’s stores in upper and lower Myanmar, according to the drug needs of registered TB patients.
“With continuing support of donors, the Three Diseases Fund has been supporting the National Tuberculosis Program since 2006 and allocated $900,000 for anti-TB drugs in 2008 and 2009,” Mr Philippe Allen, chair of the Three Diseases Fund Board, said in a statement.
“More funds were committed to assisting the fight against the three priority diseases in Myanmar, and the [fund] has awarded an additional $3 million to assist the National Tuberculosis Program in providing freely available drugs to TB patients,” Mr Allen said.
The Ministry of Health has also pledged K90 million (about $90,000) for TB drugs for 2009-2010, the statement said.
Dr Sithu Aung, medical officer of the National TB Control Program, said the Three Diseases Fund’s assistance was a substantial boost for the large number of TB patients in Myanmar. In 2008, 131,367 patients were treated for TB, the statement said.
“With this help of the Three Diseases Fund, we acquired the drugs from the Global Drug Facility and will be able to provide medicine to 140,000 new TB patients for one year in 2010. This will help reduce the transmission of TB and the morbidity and mortality rates across Myanmar,” Dr Sithu Aung said in the statement.
The assistance, which also covers the in-country distribution costs of the drugs, was provided to fill the funding gap after the Global Drug Facility completed its assistance at the end of 2009. The facility supported the National TB Control Program with TB drugs from 2002 to 2009.
Meanwhile, the Three Diseases Fund board will hold a meeting this week to finalise projects for the coming year, a senior official told The Myanmar Times last month.
Mr Mikko Lainejoki, the fund’s chief executive officer, said the meeting would be held in Yangon on March 11. Donor countries and organisations would be present, he said.
“The fund board determines the policies and priority action areas for fund intervention and informs the fund manager accordingly,” Mr Lainejoki said.
The Three Diseases Fund board is comprised of four donor representatives and three independent experts. The board is chaired by a senior donor representative, currently Mr Allen from Australia, on an annual rotating basis.
The Fund Board acts as a working committee on behalf of the donors, and this committee has oversight of the fund manager and is responsible for development and oversight of the operational aspects of the fund, Mr Lainejoki said.
The Three Diseases Fund was created by donors in 2006 to fill the void after the Global Fund terminated grants to Myanmar in 2005.
The fund aims to reduce the burden of communicable disease mortality and morbidity for Tuberculosis, Malaria and HIV/AIDS in Myanmar.
