Global Fund awards bring total to $2.1bn and supply ARVs to 700,000 people

The third round of awards granted by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria amounted to another $623 million, bringing the total given and promised by the Fund to $2.1 billion over two years. The latest money given by the Fund is less than in the previous round, and less than was originally projected by the Fund.

The Global Fund expects the total money awarded so far to result, after five years, in 700,000 people on antiretrovirals which is triple the current coverage in developing countries, and 35 million people receiving voluntary counselling, testing and prevention services. The Fund dollars will also finance medical, educational and community care for 1 million orphans, treatment for 3 million people with TB, 22 million combination drug treatments for resistant malaria and 64 million bed nets to protect people from malaria.

In a statement, the Fund said its October 2003 meeting in Thailand focused on how to raise and disburse funds in “a time of scarce resources”.

About 60% of the $2.1 billion so far awarded has been given to projects in Africa. The same percentage has been awarded for spending on HIV, with 23% of the money going to combat malaria. Almost half the money (46%) is allocated for drugs and commodities, 25% for human resources, 15% for physical infrastructure, 5% for monitoring and evaluation and 4% for administration. Half the money has been awarded to governments, 29% to non-governmental organisations and the rest to the private sector, faith-based groups, academic institutions and affected communities.

This year $2.9 billion is pledged to the Global Fund with another $1.9 billion promised for 2005-2008. The Fund estimates it will need $3.3 billion for 2004 alone.

Japan has announced that it will increase its contribution to the Fund this year from $40 million to $100 million bringing its contribution for 2002-2004 to $260 million. The US has promised $823 million for 2002-2004 and is considering increasing this sum. European pledges to the Fund total $1,691 million.

The World Health Organisation has declared that the Fund has a key role to play in financing the so-called “3 by 5” initiative to give 3 million HIV positive people access to ARVs by the end of 2005. There are 40 million people with HIV and it is estimated 6 million of them need treatment.

In January 2004 the Fund issued a call for proposals for Round 4, which have to be submitted by 2 April, and executive director Richard Feacham told the Global Fund Observer, an independent monitoring group, that the Fund hoped to receive large HIV-treatment-oriented proposals for Round 4.

“The world is now poised for a massive scale-up in antiretroviral therapy,” he said, adding: “In every country that scale-up is urgent, timely and possible. The Global Fund exists to help finance that scale-up. So we very much hope to see large and ambitious applications for antiretroviral scale-up in Rounds 4 and 5.” Round 5 is expected in 2005.