Madagascar: civil society calls for more funding against malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS
Civil society organizations working in the field of health in Madagascar are asking for more funding to fight against HIV / AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, March 11, 2022. © Laetitia Bezain / RFI
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2 mins
In Madagascar, a dozen civil society organizations involved in the field of health are calling for more funding in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, a fight "
hampered and overshadowed by the pandemic of Covid-19
“, they explained during a press conference on Friday March 11.
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With our correspondent in Antananarivo,
Laetitia Bezain
The call from these civil society organizations follows the launch of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria campaign to raise $18 billion to boost the goal of eradicating these three diseases, in particular in the countries of the African continent.
Two million cases of malaria
About two million
cases
of
malaria
have been reported in the country in 2020, almost double the cases reported last year.
“
For Madagascar, we have seen an increase in the rate of malaria.
In January, there were about 40 districts where there was a high rate of malaria patients ,
”
explains Dr. Jean-Claude Rakotomalala, national director of the Malagasy Coalition for Strengthening the Health System.
While the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted access to health systems and screenings, civil society is advocating for a much more committed policy to eradicate these diseases that kill silently.
“
When we see the cases of HIV, tuberculosis and even malaria, people do not know where to find their treatments, where to get tested or if the messages are really intended for them.
According to the spectrum, we should have 35,000
to 45,000
HIV-positive cases in Madagascar, but the parameters do not allow us to detect all these people.
So, we are around
10,000 cases.
There are still
25,000 to 35,000
HIV-ignorant people.
So, it still requires a big fight as well as a change of strategy to be able to reach many more people and it's the same for the other two diseases
, ”
underlines Johnson Firinga, executive director of the Mad'Aids network.
Health priority
While these organizations have sent letters to the various embassies to obtain funding, they also ask the Malagasy government to respect its commitment to grant 1 million dollars to this fight and to make health its priority: "
To support the fight against these three diseases, the government must strengthen the coffers of the Ministry of Health because 15
% of the State budget should be allocated to this ministry.
»
Despite a slight increase in recent years, the State allocates less than 7% of its budget to Health, far from the 15% of the Abuja declaration.
►
To read also: Madagascar: a report from the Court of Auditors pinpoints the management of Covid-19 funds
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Madagascar
AIDS
Malaria
Coronavirus
Health and medicine