On 27 July 2015, the Global Fund Board approved $319.8 million in funding for 11 grants in six countries that had submitted concept notes. Included in this amount was $25.3 million in incentive funding. In addition, the Fund placed interventions worth $17.1 million in the registry of unfunded quality demand. For details, see the table.

Table: Funding related to concept notes approved by the Global Fund in July 2015

Note: The grant to Comoros was in euros which we converted to dollars at the rate of 1.0975.

The country that received the most funding was the Democratic Republic of Congo: $222.9 million for five TB/HIV grants. The DRC initially submitted an HIV concept note, but the Grant Approvals Committee requested that it be revised and resubmitted as an integrated TB/HIV concept note.

In its report to the Board, the GAC commended the DRC for involving a diverse group of stakeholders in the revised concept note. The Board awarded the DRC $14.5 million in incentive funding. The funding is contingent on the DRC meeting its counterpart financing and willingness-to-pay commitments. In its report, the GAC said that in the past the DRC had made financial commitments to the Global Fund that ultimately were not funded by Parliament.

A portion of the approved funding, $10.5 million, will be used to support a pilot performance-based funding project involving health zones. Under this project, funding will only be awarded to the health zones and their employees once they have reached certain targets. Another $9.5 for this pilot project will come from the DRC’s malaria grants.

In its report, the GAC said that the performance evaluation of the CCM had shown poor results and a lack of compliance with Global Fund requirements. To address these issues, the GAC said, the CCM has replaced the staff of its secretariat and has begun the process of creating an oversight committee, writing conflict of interest regulations and holding elections for new members.

In commenting on the malaria concept note submitted by Botswana, the GAC said that malaria elimination in Southern Africa, particularly in the Elimination 8 countries – Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – cannot be achieved without strong political engagement and effective investments in vector control. The GAC stressed the need for a regional approach and noted that an E8 regional concept note had been reviewed by the TRP in March 2015 and was currently in the grant-making stage.

In its comments on the malaria concept note submitted by Afghanistan, the GAC said that the note provided a thoughtful analysis of human rights and gender issues in that country. All of the concept notes related to the grants approved on 27 July should be posted shortly on the relevant country pages on the Global Fund’s website.