Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03GUATEMALA2630
2003-10-10 17:51:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Guatemala
Cable title:  

GUATEMALA SEEKS SUPPORT FOR AIDS PROGRAM

Tags:  SOCI TBIO EAID GT UNDP UNESCO 
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UNCLAS GUATEMALA 002630 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SOCI TBIO EAID GT UNDP UNESCO
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA SEEKS SUPPORT FOR AIDS PROGRAM

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 002630

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SOCI TBIO EAID GT UNDP UNESCO
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA SEEKS SUPPORT FOR AIDS PROGRAM


1. Summary: On October 9, the Ambassador attended a GOG
presentation to elicit support for its latest attempt to
secure funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The Guatemalan AIDS proposal,
slightly modified since its last presentation in Geneva in
March, will be voted on during the week of October 13-17 at
the Global Fund's third round of proposal approvals in Chiang
Mai, Thailand. Belize and Guatemala are the only CentAm
countries to have had their proposals rejected in the first
and second rounds. End Summary.


2. Due to widespread concerns in-country of government
financial accountability, the Guatemalan proposal puts UNDP
in a fiduciary agent role - a strategy used effectively in
other sectors and with multilateral projects to ensure
effective and timely program execution. Guatemala's proposal
seeks just under $41 million, $7 million less than its last
proposal, for a 5 year period that would strengthen the
existing country coordination mechanism, as well expand
education, prevention, and treatment programs. The proposal
is a revision of earlier proposals. The latest proposal has
an administrative overhead of 5 percent, and its goals
include:

--Targeting preventative measures at the most vulnerable
populations,

--Involving NGO's and civil society, primarily in awareness
and preventative programs,

--Reducing the mother-child transmission rate from 30 percent
to 5 percent over 5 years, and

--Reducing opportunistic infections by 50 percent and the
mortality of those infected by 30 percent over the same 5
years.


3. Comment: An AIDS epidemic can still be avoided in
Guatemala. However, Guatemala's youthful population is the
largest in Central America and, without outside AIDS funding,
is increasingly at risk. Guatemala currently has about the
same number of AIDS cases as Honduras, Central America's most
afflicted country in terms of percentage of population.
Honduras secured a $45 million program in the first round,
whereas Guatemala's higher per capita income pushed it to the
least competitive category for proposals (2A). Income
distribution in Guatemala is highly skewed and the true size
of Guatemala's vulnerable population is likely
underestimated. As the GOG presentation pointed out, it will
be a true tragedy and far more expensive if Guatemala must
wait for external AIDS funding until the epidemic is
exploding.
HAMILTON