He disclosed that this is the first time an executive director from Global Fund is visiting Sierra Leone, which is a demonstration of solidarity to the country’s health recovery and has no doubt that strategic plans to address HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will yield results, not too long from now.
Dr Mark Dybul disclosed that Global Fund doled out $ 103 million Dollars over the period 2016- 2018 to support the three diseases, which the world considers as preventable that people should not die from.
Questioned about monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, as well as more resources to keep the three diseases at bay, the young executive in a confident mood assured the media that during his meeting with government and health development partners, he called on them to explore mechanisms to address issues related to domestic financing of health programmes, sustainability of health workers, a key priority, as well as possibilities to review the tax exemption status on Global Fund grants implemented through non-governmental principals and sub- recipients.
On more resources, Dr Dybul stated that Global Fund will increase funding three times of what Sierra Leone is receiving, depending on the support it receives from both individual foundations and also from developed nations, noting that Global Fund is lending a hand to other developing countries in need.
The visiting executive also mentioned that his interaction with key affected persons, most of whom are beneficiaries of Global Fund support, was another huge success.
On his part, the Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr Abubakarr Fofanah confessed that the visit of Dr Mark Dybul will further improve the relationship between Sierra Leone and the Global Fund, and from all the meetings including the Global Fund Board meeting, it is hoped that lessons learnt from the recent epidemic will help to shape key decisions related to flexibility and approaches for challenging and operating environments.