Fund to Fight AIDS, Tb, Malaria Approves $382 Million in Grants
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New York, Sep 30 2005 2:00PM
The United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculo-
sis and Malaria today approved its fifth round of grant propos-
als since it was established in 2002, committing $382 million
over two years to 26 grants in 20 countries.
The Board of the Global Fund, set up on Secretary-General Kofi
Annan's initiative, approves proposals for five years but ini-
tially only commits funds for the first two years.
The grants approved at this week's Board meeting in Geneva rep-
resent just over half of all Round 5 grants recommended for ap-
proval. Taken together, the total two-year commitment for 63
grants slated for funding in Round 5 is $726 million, while
their five-year value is $1.8 billion.
Once all recommended grants have been approved, Round 5 brings
the total Global Fund commitments $4.6 billion for more than 370
grants in 131 countries.
The Round 5 grants will through their lifetime support AIDS
treatment for an additional 229,000 people, provide voluntary
counselling and testing for an additional 10 million people,
provide 17 million more long-lasting bed nets and 119 million
more new artemisinin-based combination therapy treatments
against malaria, and an additional 1.5 million treatments
against tuberculosis.
Overall the Fund aims to put 1.85 million people affected by
HIV/AIDS on anti-retroviral treatment, reach 62 million people
with voluntary counselling and testing services for HIV preven-
tion, treat 5 million tuberculosis cases, and provide 108 mil-
lion bed nets and 145 million artemisinin-based treatments
against malaria.
Three quarters of the Round 5 funding will go to low-income
countries, with Africa receiving 66 per cent, Asia and the West-
ern Pacific 17 per cent, Latin America and the Caribbean nine
per cent, Eastern Europe four per cent and the Middle East four
per cent.
Since its creation, the Global Fund has become the world's pre-
mier financing mechanism for programs against AIDS, tuberculosis
and malaria, providing a quarter of international financing
against AIDS worldwide, more than half of all international ma-
laria financing and more than two thirds of international fi-
nancing for TB programs. Together, the three diseases kill more
than 6 million people each year.