Text: Experts Named to Review Grant Proposals for HIV/AIDS Global Fund

11 March 2002

Text: Experts Named to Review Grant Proposals for HIV/AIDS Global Fund

Grants to be awarded by April

A panel of international public health experts has been named to review the project proposals that will receive funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

A March 11 press release from the Global Fund says the panel will begin reviewing the proposed projects March 25, and the final decisions and awards will be made a month later.

The Global Fund was created after the U.N. General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in June 2001. It is an independent public-private partnership devoted to raising funds for distribution to disease-fighting projects in areas of the world most seriously affected by these three communicable diseases, which claim an estimated 6 million lives a year.

Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky emphasized U.S. support for the Global Fund in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee February 13. She said that the $500 million the administration is spending or has proposed as the U.S. contribution to the fund is the largest single source of support for that effort.

Following is the text of the press release:

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GLOBAL FUND To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

PRESS RELEASE

GLOBAL FUND NAMES TECHNICAL REVIEW PANEL TO REVIEW FUNDING PROPOSALS

-- First Grant Awards to be Announced in April -

GENEVA, March 11, 2002 -- The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a new initiative to combat the epidemics that kill six million people each year, today announced the appointment of an international panel of experts that will review all grant proposals and make recommendations to the Board for funding.

The 17-member Technical Review Panel includes experts in disease control and prevention, clinical care, health education, and international development. All members of the panel have worked in the developing world, where the HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria epidemics have the greatest impact.

The Technical Review Panel will meet in Geneva from 25 March to 5 April to review the first round of funding proposals. The Board will make final funding decisions, and will announce the first grant awards at the conclusion of its next meeting, scheduled for 22-24 April in New York.

"This panel of experts will help the Global Fund to identify projects that will have clear and demonstrable impact in the fight against AIDS, TB, and malaria," said Dr. Chrispus Kiyonga, the Fund's Board Chair, who announced the appointments today. "We are very pleased that the Fund will be guided by some of the world's leading public health authorities, who bring with them invaluable technical knowledge and extensive field experience."

Technical Review Panel members were selected from a group of almost 700 nominees from around the world. Members of the panel were drawn from government and non-governmental organizations, the developed and developing worlds, and the public and private sectors. Panel members will serve in their personal capacities as experts in their fields, not as representatives of their institutions or governments.

Appointees to the Technical Review Panel include:

Jonathan Broomberg, South Africa
Alex Godwin Coutinho, Uganda
Usa Duongsaa, Thailand
Paula Fujiwara, USA
Sarah Julia Gordon, Guyana
Ranieri Guerra, Italy
Michel Kazatchkine, France
Peter Kazembe, Malawi
Mary Ann Lansang, Philippines
Fabio Luelmo, Argentina
Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, Poland
Jane Elizabeth Miller, UK
Toru Mori, Japan
Peter Sandiford, New Zealand
Amadou Sy Elhadj, Senegal
Valdilea Veloso Dos Santos, Brazil
Kong-Lai Zhang, China

About the Global Fund

AIDS, TB and malaria have a devastating global impact, causing nearly six million deaths a year -- 10% of the world's total. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria is an independent public-private partnership working to increase global resources to combat the three diseases, to direct these resources where they are needed most, and to ensure that they are used effectively. The Fund was created to share resources and expertise across national boundaries and private and public sectors in order to make an ongoing and significant contribution to the goal of reducing infections, illness, and death. The Fund will disburse between $700-$800 million in 2002, effectively increasing global spending on these epidemics by 50%.

Further information on the Global Fund can be found at www.globalfundatm.org.

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