The Global Fund :: Health, Diseases, HIV/AIDS

The threaded discussions have demonstrated that communicable diseases are the leading causes of illness, deaths, and disability in the African continent. In this regard, the economic costs in terms of prevention, treatment, and loss of productivity are undeniably enormous. Most, if not all of the human and financial resources allocated to Africa have focused on disease-specific intervention programs, such as prevention or treatment of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Yellow fever, like malaria, is transmitted by mosquitoes and share similar symptoms. Although both diseases are preventable, there is a vaccine available for yellow fever. The yellow fever vaccine is expensive, and not readily available in poverty-stricken areas (Monath & Cetron, 2002). It is a concern for public health officials in Cote d’Ivoire when an outbreak occurred in January 2011 (Whittett, 2011). Since yellow fever occurs only in some parts of Africa and tropical South America, Staples, Gerschman and Fischer (2010) of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have recommended that travelers to these areas get the vaccine. In African nations besieged by economic instability and political turmoil, the disease has brought untold hardship and indescribable misery to its citizens. It is sad to note that children below the age of fifteen are most often infected with the disease. The United Nations Childen’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank have joined together to ensure that 33 African countries add the vaccine to its routine vaccination programs. These organizations have shown studies that the vaccine would be cost-effective (Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunizations, 2005). As pointed out, funding for the vaccine is a major problem and concern for these poverty-stricken economies. The WHO (2010) is launching an appeal to raise $30 million dollars to secure the vaccine stockpile for 2011 to 2015 for all 33 African countries. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) is an international financial organization that is completely funded by the world’s developed nations. The organization invests the world’s money for interventions against AIDS, TB and malaria. To date, it has committed US$ 21.7 billion in 150 countries to support large-scale prevention, treatment and care programs against the three diseases (The Global Fund, 2011). In Southern Africa, the Global fund allocated $2.