*EPF112 07/14/2003
Global Disease Fund Meets to Assess Progress and Needs
(More than 150 disease programs receive support so far) (680)

By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- More than 200 leaders from governments, international organizations, business and advocacy groups will convene in Paris July 16 for a progress report on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson will serve in dual roles as U.S. representative to the fund and as chairman of the international group.

Thompson will reiterate the U.S. commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world and try to convince European countries to devote new funding to contribute to the cause.

"The HIV/AIDS epidemic is sweeping the globe, devastating entire communities and leaving many children without parents." Thompson said in a statement issued July 14. "The United States has already taken unprecedented action to help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, such as President Bush's $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and pledging $1.65 billion ($1,650 million) for the Global Fund -- nearly half of the Fund's pledges. But the scourge of HIV and AIDS is not a battle fought alone."

The international discussion of increased funding for disease did not wait for the Global Fund to convene. The issue was also at the forefront of a major conference of the International AIDS Society that opened in Paris July 13. Former South African President Nelson Mandela addressed that meeting and urged European leaders to match the U.S. financial commitment to combating HIV/AIDS.

According to wire service reports, a European Commission (EC) spokesman said new financial pledges will not be forthcoming at the upcoming Global Fund meeting. The Reuters news service quotes EC spokesman Jean-Charles Ellerman as saying that the donations already pledged by European nations collectively total almost $2,400 million through the year 2006.
The European Commission, France, Italy and the United Kingdom made new pledges to the fund in June, totaling $1,200 million, according to a press release from the fund.
Since its initial organization in 2002, the Geneva-based fund has committed more than $1,500 million to disease-fighting programs proposed by locally-based groups in 92 nations. The fund was created as a private-public partnership to raise and disburse resources to be devoted to well-structured programs in those areas where infectious diseases are taking a serious toll. The fund's managers have developed criteria to evaluate the soundness of the proposals and their implementation and effectiveness when they are under way.

The Paris meeting comes just two months after a U.S. government study found that the Global Fund is proving itself a "promising mechanism" for boosting international efforts to combat infectious disease after its the first full year of operations. The report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) released May 7 also found that the Fund's long-range effectiveness is threatened by a predicted depletion of resources that will close down disease-fighting projects if more money isn't raised over the next two years.
"The Fund projects that it will receive $1.6 billion ($1,600 million) in technically sound proposals at its next proposal round in October 2003, but it currently has less than $300 million to support this round of grants," said GAO Director of International Affairs and Trade David Gootnick. "In addition, without significant new pledges, the fund will be unable to support all of the already approved grants beyond the initial two-year commitments."
U.S. pledges to the Global Fund come to $1,650 million, but the nation's overall international commitment to fighting disease is higher. Legislation passed by Congress and signed by the president in May makes an unprecedented pledge of $15,000 million -- $10,000 million in new funding. Much of that amount will be distributed through bilateral assistance programs. In total, the Bush administration estimates the five-year funding commitment will prevent 7 million new infections, provide antiretroviral drugs for 2 million HIV-infected people, and care for 10 million HIV-infected individuals and AIDS orphans.

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

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