*EPF109 08/26/2002
U.S. Official Calls Global Fund on AIDS "Amazing" Partnership
(Says Global Fund sets example for creating future in-depth alliances) (1060)

By Jim Fuller
Washington File Staff Writer

Johannesburg -- A U.S. official says the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a notable example of a strong public-private partnership in which the United States has already joined other donor governments, foundations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to combat disease.

E. Anne Peterson, assistant administrator for global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), made her remarks at a press briefing August 26 -- the opening day of the 10-day World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. �The summit is expected to focus on results-oriented partnerships that help to fight poverty, protect the environment, and improve living standards in countries around the world.

Peterson emphasized that there are many different kinds of partnerships -- short-term and long-term, national and local, public and private. �She said there are also different depths of partnerships, and that those based on alliances between various elements of the public and private sectors -- such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- are the deepest partnerships.

"This is a very crucial concept," she said. ?A very superficial partnership is where you communicate and find out who is doing what and make sure you are not duplicating efforts. Then there are increasing depths of partnerships. �And one of the really new areas is the whole focus on alliances."

She said alliances -- such as those involved in the Global Fund -- require the partners to bring resources to the table, including money and people, and to give up a fair amount of control.?You work together to make decisions -- it is a deep alliance, a deep partnership that has great potential for leveraging resources and bringing more effort to a particular problem. �It's a new way of doing business, especially for many countries."

Peterson noted that the fund's governing board is made up of representatives from developed and developing countries, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private sector businesses, academic institutions and United Nations organizations.

"This representation is at the international and also at the national level," she said. ?The government sector is linked to the non-government sector, which is linked to academic centers or to NGOs or to communities. �So at every level the Global Fund is doing the kind of things we're talking about for creating of partnerships at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. �And it's doing it in an area that really impacts sustainable development."

Peterson called the Global Fund "an amazing partnership" that brought many people together very quickly, with its first board meeting held last January and its first grants -- $378 million over two years -- awarded to 40 programs in 31 countries. �The partners have pledged more than $200,000 million to the fund. �The United States -- the leading donor to the fund -- has pledged $500 million, approximately one-fourth of all commitments to the fund to date.

In response to a question about President Bush's proposed Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and whether health aid dollars would be withheld from a country because of concerns about good governance, Peterson said the United States is strongly committed to continuing foreign aid to nations with the greatest need.

"We certainly have been having discussions about where humanitarian assistance, and especially health initiatives, happen," she said. ?And, in fact, we know that many places with the poorest governments -- the people in those countries are the hardest hit in many of the social sectors. �So we have a very strong commitment to continue our foreign aid, and our health aid specifically, in all countries with greatest need on a needs basis."

The MCA, which calls for an increase in U.S. development assistance of $5,000 million by 2006 -- an increase of 50 percent over current levels -- will support programs in countries that have demonstrated commitments to good governance, investments in health and education, and economic policies that encourage private enterprise development.

Peterson emphasized that MCA would be in addition to current U.S. foreign aid and bilateral funding. Speaking from more than 20 years experience in international programs, she said it is clear that aid dollars do more in places where good governance exists. ?So I'm excited that there is an opportunity to look at enhanced aid in places that have good governance," she said.

Speaking to delegates on the opening day of the summit, Republic of South Africa President Thabo Mbeki said the world has not made much progress in realizing the grand vision contained in Agenda 21 -- the roadmap for achieving sustainable development adopted at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Mbeki said the tragic result of this is the avoidable increase in human misery and environmental degradation, including the growth of the economic gap between North and South. �He added, however, that summit delegates did not have to discover a new agenda or reopen battles that have been fought and resolved.

"As we deliberate and work on a way forward, we need to take stock of the inertia of the past decade and agree on very clear and practical measures that will help us to deal decisively with all the challenges that we face," he said. ?This is the central task of this summit."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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