GUYANA has applied for a new round of funding from the Global Fund for Malaria, Tubercolosis and HIV/AIDS.

As a result, Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy is leading countrywide consultations to hear suggestions from intended beneficiaries for compiling supporting proposals.

The Health Ministry said the most recent such exercise was in Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) where he held discussions with residents aimed at getting their views on accessing the international aid.

Ramsammy was accompanied by a team from the Malaria Department of his ministry, in response to a call from the International Global Fund Organisation on round seven of the disbursement.

The ministry is seeking support for its malaria campaign in Region Nine and the minister and officials went there to consult with residents on the objectives of the application and elicit their comments in their capacity as stakeholders.

The Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was established by the United Nations to dramatically increase the direct flow of resources for the purpose to areas of greatest need.

The Health Ministry said that since its 2001 establishment through a multi-country agreement, it began allocating funds, in 2003, to members for combating the three deadly diseases and, the same year, Guyana received a total of US$800,000 for anti-malaria programmes in Regions Nine and Eight (Potaro/Siparuni).

The programmes, including the distribution of impregnated bed nets over a two-year period in the two regions, resulted in a record high 75 per cent reduction in the incidence of malaria, the Health Ministry said.

During the recent visit, the ministerial party also met councillors of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and members of the Health Committee in Region Nine.

The ministry said, in the early 1990s, Region Nine ranked as the one with the highest number of malaria cases but this was subsequently reduced through several government initiatives.

Ramsammy told participants in the stakeholder discussions that the proposal for Round Seven of Global Funding will seek a wide array of assistance, with emphasis on requests for impregnated bed nets as a priority.

He said the government is hoping to distribute at least three impregnated bed nets to every family in Region Nine, over the next five years, as it is the desire that no child under the five years or pregnant woman should sleep (day or night) outside an impregnated bed net.

The ministry will also ask for finance to improve diagnostic capacity, print literature for education and awareness programmes, transportation, training and surveillance, as well as distribution of anti-malaria drugs and equipment (microscopes) to conduct screening for malaria, Ramsammy said.

He said, should the proposals be accepted by the Global Fund, Community Malaria Committees would be resuscitated in the regions affected by malaria.

Such committees would be set up in schools also in the quest to extend community involvement, Ramsammy explained at the meetings where the proposed requests were unanimously agreed.

He said the impregnated bed nets, proper surveillance and vector control would go a far way in reducing, if not eliminating, the incidence of malaria in Region Nine.