Global Tuberculosis Fund to Provide Armenia with $8.5 Million

YEREVAN (Arka)—The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will provide Armenia with $8.5 million under a new program to combat tuberculosis, according to Hasmik Harutyunyan, the coordinator of the Fund’s programs at the Armenian Health Ministry.

Harutyunyan told ARKA that Armenia is on the list of countries that will receive three-year grants for the 2015 to 2017 period.

Harutyunyan said in order to get the grant Armenia must develop a special plan of actions which is expected to be ready by mid-October this year.

She said Armenia has received a total of 16 million euros from 2007 when it launched the National Program of Tuberculosis Control. The money was used mostly to purchase anti-TB drugs.

Harutyunyan added also that a proper treatment of a patient that, depending on the type of illness, lasts from six months to two years, costs from $3000 to $5000.

According to the National Office for Combating Tuberculosis, some 1,055 new cases were reported in the country 2013. Today nearly a thousand patients with TB are being treated.