Article: New Funds, New Commitments Made to Anti-HIV/AIDS Campaign

26 June 2001

Article: New Funds, New Commitments Made to Anti-HIV/AIDS Campaign

Holbrooke will lead business campaign to fight disease

By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer

United Nations -- Nations from around the world are responding to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's call for donations to a global fund to be used in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Sweden, Norway and Canada are some of the nations that have announced multi-million dollar contributions this week at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the disease.

With this week's announcements and the combined funding commitments made by the United States and other nations prior to this session, pledges to the fund -- first proposed by the Secretary General in an April speech -- now total some $500-700 million. Dr. Paul Delay, head of the HIV/AIDS program at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said at a June 26 briefing that fund planners estimated first year pledges might be about $1,000 million. So the pace of commitments as demonstrated at U.N. headquarters this week, he said, exceeds the expectations.

Developing nations such as Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe also announced contributions to the global fund this week. Their contributions range from $7,000 to $10 million. A senior member of the U.S. delegation says the importance of their support exceeds actual dollar amounts because these developing world pledges represent a "buy-in" to the process that is necessary if the effort is to be successful.

Delay also corrected what he said had been a widely reported misinterpretation of the amounts projected to be necessary for HIV/AIDS care, treatment and prevention. A comprehensive statistical modeling compiled by the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) and several other international health agencies estimates that $9,000 million will be required.

Those funds are not to come from the global AIDS funds alone, Delay said, but also from the sources currently being tapped -- national funds, aid from international donor nations, corporations and foundations.

Delay and other officials on hand for this meeting have emphasized, however, that an array of issues surrounding the fund must still be resolved. How the money will be spent, the channels for its delivery, the organizations that might receive it -- none of the mechanics for the fund's implementation have yet been decided, much less put in place.

Even with that caution, senior U.S. officials in the delegation express optimism about the progress being made at the first U.N. General Assembly special session devoted to a health issue. State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary E. Michael Southwick said "It's been gratifying," to see the increasing level of commitment building among nations to devote new energies to the anti-disease campaign. If the session ends on the current high note June 27, Southwick said the UNGA meeting will signify "a high water mark in the world's understanding" of the epidemic and its severity.

Senior U.S. delegation members acknowledged that some controversies remain in the negotiations on the declaration of commitment, the acceptance of which should mark the close of the meeting. Elements in dispute now center on whether AIDS policy guidelines should become a formal part of the final communiqu�� Even with that pending dispute, U.S. officials say elements of the declaration already agreed upon will mark significant progress in world policy toward the disease, as nations commit themselves to developing plans for combating HIV/AIDS, confronting stigma, addressing gender issues associated with the epidemic, eliminating discrimination and involving government, business and private entities in the anti-disease campaign.

Business Rallies to Disease Prevention Effort

The Global Business Council (GBC) on HIV/AIDS announced at a June 26 press conference that it will lead a new campaign to recruit corporate support for the anti-AIDS effort. GBC Chairman William Roedy -- also the president of MTV Networks International -- said the effort "marks a news stage in the business response" to the epidemic as he spoke on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS.

Roedy said "Business has the opportunity to reach every person on earth" with its established channels of marketing and communications with consumers. The executive presented "Business Action on HIV/AIDS -- a Blueprint," a guidebook advising companies on how to use their existing strengths and resources in disease prevention efforts.

Roedy said the corporate contribution doesn't necessarily have to be financial. Community influence, infrastructure, personnel, communication experience, supply and distribution channels are some of the other resources which businesses can bring to bear on the HIV/AIDS problem, Roedy said.

The GBC chairman said each business must play to its own strengths in developing disease prevention plans for its employees, customers and community. Roedy's most emphatic message was for businesses not to delay. "No lip service. Just get on with it," he said.

Holbrooke to Head Effort

The former U.S. diplomat who brokered a peace in the war-torn Balkans brings his negotiating skills to this campaign. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke will serve as president and chief executive officer of the GBC.

At the same New York news conference, Holbrooke called HIV/AIDS "the single worst problem" facing the world today and he said business has done a fraction of what it can do to assist in the anti-disease effort. His main job will be to recruit more corporate citizens to the GBC and to initiate action in the HIV/AIDS campaign. He'll do that, he said, by showing companies that disease is bad for business.

Neither the GBC nor the international organizations on hand for the press conference have accumulated statistics on how HIV/AIDS may be adversely affecting business, but they said there is no doubt that the impact is serious as companies lose experienced workers to the disease, and incur high costs in health care.

That realization led soft drink manufacturer Coca-Cola to develop a wide-ranging strategy in Africa to fight the disease. The plan was announced by Coke and UNAIDS earlier this month.

Coke Executive Vice President Carl Ware said employee absenteeism, worker turnover, and increased health care and pension costs made his company recognize the severity of the disease's impact and its negative effect on the company's operations. Now Coke plans to recruit its network of bottlers and distributors into a disease prevention education campaign to insure that "every corner of Africa is touched by the message."