Media should be more critical of government underspending
The early morning “After 8 debate” on SAfm on Monday heated up when radio host John Perlman asked various government officials “Why is the government struggling to spend money allocated for HIV and AIDS?
“R67-million has not been spent,” he lamented.
One of the studio guests was Dr Yogan Pillay, chief director of strategic planning in the Health Department. At one point, Perlman asked Pillay to account for how the HIV/AIDS budget was spent. Unfortunately, Pillay could not get his sums right, leaving the public none the wiser as to how the money that actually has been spent has actually been spent.
The SAfm debate was following up on reports last week on the issue published in The Star and elsewhere. These latest developments are distressing considering the fact that UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated a mere 500,000 people had access to ARVs in Sub Saharan Africa in June 2005. In South Africa, the WHO estimated there were 837,000 people needing ARVs in December 2004, but only between about 47,000 and 62,000 (or about 7%) were actually receiving the treatment (see more on this in the Journ-AIDS treatment factsheet.)
This isn’t the first time that the South African government hasn’t spent money available for fighting HIV/AIDS. In the 1999/2000 financial year, 40% of the money allocated to the Department of Health for HIV/AIDS went unspent, as noted, for example, by The Star in 2000.
A SAPA report on News24 revealed that the R67-million may be given to international organisations, according to Health Minister Manton Tshabalala-Msimang, who admitted to Parliament that she wasn’t proud of the unspent funds.
“It’s not money like it’s wasted, it’s lost. It is money that is going to be utilised, maybe not just for ourselves. Because we are also part of the global fund we make contributions; we are also part of the SADC [Southern African Development Community] fund on HIV/Aids - we also make contributions there, so we have enough scope to unitise those resources,” she said.
In the article, the health minister partly blames provincial government departments as well as NGOs for not monitoring the spending. “We have to nudge them all the time - please give reports as to how we are using this money,” she said.
The ASSA2002 model, developed by the Actuarial Society of South Africa, estimates that over 300,000 South Africans will die from AIDS in the next year (see Journ-AIDS statistics factsheet). With figures such as these, can the health ministry really afford not to spend every last cent?
A recent survey showed that nine out of 10 South Africans believe the government could do a better job in treating people with HIV/AIDS, reported the Sunday Times .
But they blame Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang more than President Thabo Mbeki.
The poll by Research Surveys shows that 90% of blacks and 86% of all 2000 people questioned in a face-to-face enquiry believe the government should do more to supply medicine to those already infected.
Only 9% of the sample felt the government was doing enough on medication and 5% were unsure.
It will be difficult for politicians and health department officials to turn around this perception and the obvious discontent behind it.
In the SAPA article, the minister, besides expressing sheer embarrassment, which is justified, says that we (South Africans) should “live, work, learn, study, pray or play and reflect on the impact of HIV and Aids on our families and communities, our nation and our continent”.
Perhaps the health ministry, in turn, should calculate, audit, monitor and above all, spend the funds allocated to it. The media in turn, should find ways to monitor HIV/AIDS spending and raise questions earlier, and to be even more critical of a government that is currently helping to save the lives of only about a fraction of the people presently dying from AIDS in the country. – Lunga Madlala