Global Fund Grants Nearly $3B For HIV/AIDS Efforts

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Also Included In: Tuberculosis;  Tropical Diseases
Article Date: 12 Nov 2008 - 12:00 PST

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The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Monday announced it has approved nearly $3 billion in Round 8 funding to improve access to HIV treatment and prevention and help reduce deaths from TB and malaria by 50% by 2015, AFP/Yahoo! News reports (AFP/Yahoo! News, 11/10). The Global Fund's board approved 94 grants worth $2.75 billion, representing the group's largest funding round to date (Global Fund release, 11/10).

Rajat Gupta, chair of the Global Fund's board, said the grants represent "the highest amount of new financing approved by the Global Fund ever," adding that 38% of the resources will be used for HIV/AIDS programs, 11% for TB programs and 51% for malaria programs. Gupta said that 90% of the approved grants will be distributed to low-income countries, 77% of which are in Africa and the Middle East. The remaining funds will be dispersed to countries in Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Pacific, the Caribbean and Latin America (AP/International Herald Tribune, 11/11). The funding brings the total amount of aid awarded by the Global Fund to $14.4 billion.

Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund, said the "increased demand" for funding "requires a renewed resource mobilization effort." He added that the Global Fund has a "fantastic message to bring back to the rich nations of the world: programs to fight these three diseases save lives, reduce disease burdens and strengthen health systems" (Global Fund release, 11/10).

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