Ukraine risks losing USD 27 million due to failure of the Government to comply with its international commitments on funding of the substitution treatment programs!
On 22 August, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria sent an official letter addressing the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Pavlo Rozenko, emphasizing the real threat for Ukraine to lose non-repayable financial aid in the amount of USD 27 million (15% of the total amount of USD-134-million grant) in case if the Government of Ukraine does not comply with its 2015 commitments to gradually take over opioid substitution treatment (OST) programs.
In 2016, the Global Fund already made an exception for Ukraine and did not apply tough sanctions to reduce the amount of funding allocated to Ukraine, allowing reinvesting grant savings to procure the OST drugs. However, according to the letter, in 2017 the main international donor in the area of HIV/AIDS and TB response, which in the recent 12 years provided non-repayable financial aid of over USD 503 million to Ukraine, does not plan to make similar exceptions.
As per the commitments of the Government of Ukraine, starting from the second half of 2017 funds to procure the OST drugs for 7,000 patients are to be allocated from the state budget of Ukraine, and the Global Fund shall provide OST services to 2,300 patient.
According to the National Targeted Social Program to Fight HIV/AIDS in 2014-2018 approved with the Law of Ukraine N 1708-VII dd. 20.10.2014 and signed by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, OST programs were to be co-funded from the state budget back in 2014, and in 2017 they were expected to be fully covered by the state. However, in the 12 years of OST program implementation in Ukraine not a single pill was ever procured from the state budget.
According to the above-mentioned National Program, 16,204 people were to receive OST services in Ukraine this year, but in fact the OST program covers only 8,826 drug-dependent patients (54%). One of the key reasons of such failure is lack of support from the Government.
In mid-September 2016, representatives of the Global Fund will pay a regular visit to Ukraine, and during this visit government officials should provide documented evidence of their intention to comply with the previous commitments.
The amount involved: the estimated cost of the OST drugs to be procured within 2016 state budget is about USD 600 thousand, but, in case of failure to procure such drugs, Ukraine may lose USD 27 million to fight the epidemics of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis!
Not a single meeting of the National TB/HIV Council has been carried out after formation of the new Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in April 2016. Officially the Council is still chaired by the former Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Viacheslav Kyrylenko, who has never taken part in its meetings even back when he held the post of the responsible Vice Prime Minister.
In 2015, obligations to the Global Fund on behalf of the Government of Ukraine were signed by the former Minister of Health, Oleksandr Kvitashvili.
As it turned out, on the same day, on 22 August 2016, the International Monetary Fund postponed consideration of the issue on disbursement of the next tranche of financial aid to Ukraine in the amount of about USD 500 million.