IRIN NEWS

HARARE, 24 October 2008 (PlusNews) - Excitement is mounting in Zimbabwe with the news that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has found the country's Round 8 application for funding "technically sound", and has recommended that the grant be approved.

The Technical Review Panel (TRP) of the Global Fund is an independent body of health experts and academics that reviews the technical merits of every application the Global Fund receives.

When the Global Fund's board of directors meets in November in New Delhi, it will either accept or reject the TRP's decision on Zimbabwe and other countries. The Global Fund board has never rejected a decision by its TRP but Zimbabwe has a history of troubled relations with the organisation.

Zimbabwe applied for at least US$500 million for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis programmes earlier this year.

The country's relationship with the Global Fund has not been a rosy one. In seven rounds of funding disbursements, Zimbabwe's applications have been successful in only two.

AIDS activists and health officials had expressed disappointment over the Global Fund's previous decisions to exclude Zimbabwe, citing the already limited resources available to tackle its health burden.

Zimbabwe's health minister, David Parirenyatwa, has frequently accused the Geneva-based agency of political bias, which the Global Fund has strongly denied. When the Global Fund declined the country's round seven grant proposal in 2007, government officials attacked the Fund for making politically motivated decisions.