Resource Type: Expenditure Review
Authors: Guthrie T, Chaitkin M, Khoza N, Zulu N, Madisha V, Ndlovu N, Shezi S, Karume J, Motsoeneng P, Simelane S, Meyer-Rath G, Masuku S, Jamieson L, and Ghai K.
Published: August 2018

Resource Description: The South African Government (SAG) and its development partners have mounted a formidable response to the world’s largest HIV epidemic and a persistent burden of tuberculosis (TB), the country’s leading killer. Nearly 4 million South Africans initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART) by the end of financial year 2016/17, helping to curtail new infections and reduce the number of annual HIV-related deaths. Mortality from TB has also declined thanks, in part, to improved treatment success.

Despite progress, challenges remain. Roughly 3 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) lack treatment, and each year more than a quarter million are newly infected. Moreover, nearly a half million South Africans contract TB every year, with an increasing share affected by drug-resistant strains.

To effectively plan and steward the health system, the SAG routinely monitors programmatic and financial performance of the response to HIV and TB, including by tracking expenditure. Analysis of spending, including trends in sources, levels, geographic and programmatic distribution and cost drivers can help policymakers to assess whether resources are reaching priority populations, interventions, and hotspot geographies; to identify potential opportunities to improve allocative and technical efficiency; and to stimulate more productive dialogue at multiple levels of the system.

This review of HIV and TB expenditure in South Africa is an input to policy, planning and management processes within and amongst spheres of government and between government and development partners. The data have been especially useful to national and provincial programme managers as they perform their oversight functions, leading to improved spending of available resources. With 52 annexes, it also serves as an authoritative reference document detailing levels and trends in HIV and TB spending by the three main funders of the disease responses: the SAG, the United States Government (USG), primarily via the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (the Global Fund). The findings have informed South Africa’s report to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Monitor and the country’s forthcoming funding request to the Global Fund.

Download

Download