CSOs fault health allocation in zero-aid budget

Civil society organisations (CSOs) working in the public health, HIV and Aids management sector have expressed dissatisfaction with the 8.8 percent of the K742 billion of 2014/15 National Budget allocated to the health sector.

In an interview on Wednesday, Malawi Health Equity Network (Mhen) executive director Martha Kwataine said the network is not happy because the allocation is 15 percent.

Kwataine has since urged government to channel to the health sector the extra amount of K7 billion that has been allocated to the Ministry of Lands, Urban Development and Housing meant to introduce a pilot scheme in subsiding iron sheets and cement.

“The current health sector requires about K130 billion in order to deliver properly and what has been given is less than that. The country needs about K32 billion for drugs alone; when we look at the K65 billion, K30 billion already goes to salaries and the remaining K35 billion cannot be enough for drugs, training of healthcare workers and all the other functionalities in the health sector.

“Mhen would like to make an appeal to members of Parliament [MPs] and the Ministry of Finance that we do not need cement and iron sheets subsidies because subsidies have already taken a lot of money in the budget in form of farm inputs,” said Kwataine.

Commenting on the health sector allocation, Centre for Human Rights Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director Timothy Mtambo faulted government on how it keeps on signing declarations, protocols, and conventions, but fails to conform to them.

Mtambo was referring to the Abuja Declaration which Malawi signed in 2000 alongside many of its African neighbours, making a commitment to ensure a minimum of 15 percent of its national budget would be allocated to the health sector.

Presenting the budget in Parliament on Tuesday afternoon, Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe acknowledged the deficit, but banked his hopes on donors who bankroll most projects in the sector.

“The Ministry of Health attracts a lot of off budget support from donors. For example, the bulk of our drug requirements is now supplied directly by the DfID and other donors. Expenditure on HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria is almost entirely covered by the Global Fund,” said Gondwe.