*EPF511 07/16/2004
AIDS Conference Closes with Big Boost in Contributions
(European Union, Gates Foundation provide $102 million) (940)

By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer

Bangkok, Thailand -- The European Union and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced additional contributions of some $102 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the XV International AIDS Conference came to a close in Bangkok, Thailand, July 16.

This financial boost for the Geneva-based fund, which supports disease-related projects in 128 countries, may contribute to a realization of the conference theme "Access for All," organizers say.

The European Union (EU) announced a contribution of $52 million dollars (42 million euros), pushing its total contributions to more than $550 million since the Global Fund became operational in 2002, according to EU official Lieve Fransen, who made the announcement at a closing press conference.

The private, nonprofit Gates Foundation, backed by the multi-billion dollar fortune of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, will contribute an additional $50 million to the fund, according to Helene Gayle, director of the foundation's HIV and tuberculosis program. She said the contribution represents the Gates Foundation's commitment to the work of the Global Fund.

"We called on governments and other organizations around the world to increase their commitment when we made that pledge," Gayle said at the press conference. "So that's why it's so wonderful that we have that example of the European community and we hope there will be others who will come forward as a result of these two pledges."

The Global Fund has approved more than 300 grants for disease related projects in 128 countries in its 18-month life. If all the projects fulfill their five-year plans, the Global Fund will invest more than $8 billion, financing anti-retroviral treatment for 1.6 million people, tuberculosis treatment for 3.5 million patients, and voluntary HIV/AIDS counseling and testing for 52 million people.

The United States remains the single largest contributor to the Global Fund. U.S. Health Secretary Tommy Thompson serves as its chairman.

Also at the press conference, one of Thailand's leading campaigners against the disease made a theatrical gesture demonstrating the need to bring greater resources to the epidemic when he dumped a box of money -- U.S. dollars, Thai bath and other currencies -- on the floor, calling it the beginning of the People's Global Fund.

Thai Senator Mechai Viravaiedya said he envisions a grass-roots people's network managing and disbursing the funds. He called for this network to include all people in involved in the AIDS issue, be it health care provider, a person living with HIV, drug users or sex workers. Mechai said the European Union has made a commitment to establish an administrative structure for the People's Fund.

Mechai also underscored the importance of economic empowerment as a key to helping people living with HIV/AIDS maintain their dignity and place in communities while ending the discrimination and stigma associated with having the disease. He noted the Positive Partnership Program now getting under way in Thailand with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The program issues loans to an HIV-positive person and an HIV-negative partner who use the money to start up a small business venture.

"The job of the (HIV) negative person is to change attitudes and behavior in the community ... and help explain the realities of living with AIDS," said Mechai. The program began in April, with average loans of about $260 each. Additional loans were issued during the week of the conference when U.S. officials visited Bangkok's Mercy Centre, a nonprofit organization offering services to the poor, orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS.

When asked to offer a final assessment of the conference, International AIDS Society President Joep Lange said at the press briefing: "The conference has an enormous impact on the awareness in this region, an enormous impact on the fight against HIV/AIDS in Thailand." One study released prior to the conference suggested that the Thai government might be growing complacent in its fight against the epidemic despite initial successes in containing the spread of the disease through the 1990s. Lange said that assessment is not justified.

Thai Minister of Health Vallop Thaineau, representing his government as a co-host of the conference, said the conference might help build greater knowledge sharing between his governments and others of the region to contain the spread of HIV. "If we learn how to stop [the means of transmission] somewhere along the pathway," he said, "we don't have to lose more time."

Helene Gayle, incoming president of the International AIDS Society, said this meeting was notable for its increased attention to the impact of the epidemic on women and youth. "Those two populations particularly got more attention, more focus than they have previously," she said, which is in keeping with the conference theme of "Access to All."

The human rights organization Amnesty International added another dimension to the theme "Access for All," as its secretary-general delivered a closing-day speech, calling HIV/AIDS a human rights crisis.

"Wherever we look, discrimination and inequality are driving the epidemic; wherever we look, HIV/AIDS is exacerbating existing inequality and creating a lethal mix of stigma and neglect," said Amnesty International Secretary-General Irene Khan, noting the increasing numbers of women and injecting drug users who are becoming infected. "The marginalized in our society are at greatest risk and if we ignore their situation, we do so at our peril."

Almost 20,000 delegates attended the XV International AIDS Conference, the largest number of participants ever, organizers said.

(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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