World Bank Approves $6 Million in Additional Financing to
Fight HIV/AIDS in Mali
Contacts:
In Bamako: Moussa Diarra (+223) 20 22 22 83
mdiarra@worldbank.org
In Washington DC: Rachel McColgan-Arnold
(202) 458 5299
rmccolgan@worldbank.org

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2009 – The World Bank’s Executive Board today approved an International Development Association (IDA) Additional Financing
credit in the amount of US$6 million equivalent for the Mali Multisectoral HIV/AIDS Project (MAP).

The additional financing responds to the Government of Mali’s request for further assistance to consolidate and strengthen the progress made by the
original project, which was approved in June 2004 (for US$25.5 million). The project will directly contribute to Mali’s continuing efforts to control the
spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic by improving access to prevention, treatment and care, particularly for the most-at-risk-populations and those already
infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. The public sector, civil society and the private sector are all actively contributing to this effort.

Mali is a country of 12.3 million people, where the HIV/AIDS seroprevalence rate is 1.3 percent. “The 2006 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) found
that although the seroprevalence rate in Mali seems to be decreasing at the national level, it is increasing among high risk groups (sex workers) and in
some cities such as Mopti (in the central part of the country) and Gao (North). The additional financing will provide resources for priority interventions
based on these findings,” explained Amadou Dem, the Bank’s Task Team Leader.

Specifically, the project will:

       strengthen Mali’s national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic by improving its evidence base, coordination, implementation, and monitoring and
       evaluation capacity;
       raise the level of awareness of HIV/AIDS through implementation of a comprehensive sensitization plan targeting the most-at-risk-populations in
       particular;
       provide access to testing and counseling facilities; and
       provide access to treatment, care and psychosocial support to persons infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

The first component, Support to Public Sector Response, is expected to be limited and focus mainly on a new activity, the provision of critical
equipment and training to a selected and small number of public health facilities that will become HIV/AIDS treatment facilities in targeted regions with
poor access to Anti-Retroviral (ARV) drugs and health services such as Mopti and Kayes (in the West).

The second component, Support to Private Sector Response, will continue to support, on a declining basis, part of the operating costs of the newly
established business coalition, which is still in its incubation phase. It will also support, on a declining basis, the successful public-private partnership
(PPP) arrangement under which a private laboratory has provided quality services to monitor the health condition and treatment needs of more than 7,000
patients, and which allowed these patients to access ARV drugs. Finally, the additional financing will continue to provide basic equipment and training to
a small number of major companies with health centers to enable them to provide voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services to their employees,
employees’ families, and the community.

The third component, Support to Civil Society Response, will provide more support for sensitization and VCT services to the MARP. A particular focus
will be on female sex workers, a group which recorded an increase in prevalence rate from 29 to 35 percent between 2001 and 2006. Support will also be
provided to combat stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS by strengthening their associations.

The fourth component, Project Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation will continue to partly support the Executive Secretariat of the High National
Council on HIV/AIDS (ES/HNAC) created under the project, which is effectively leading the fight against HIV/AIDS and the dialogue with all the
development partners.

                                  For more information on the work of the World Bank in sub-Saharan Africa, please visit:
                                                               http://www.worldbank.org/afr
                                     For more detailed information on the work of the World Bank in Mali, please visit:
                                                            http://www.banquemondiale.org/mali