Donor governments pledge record amounts to the Global Fund
2 October 2007. Related: Treatment access.
Global Fund Observer
Donors are expected to give the Global Fund at least $9.7 billion over the next three years, 57% more than they gave over the past three years.
Twenty-six donor governments and one foundation, gathering at a Replenishment Meeting in Berlin, Germany that ended on 28 September, promised that during the years 2008-10 they would give at least $6.3 billion to the Fund. With the Fund projecting that other donors will give at least $3.4 billion, this leads to a total of $9.7 billion.
The G8 has declared that in the year 2010, the Fund will need to spend $6 billion, or possibly as much as $8 billion. (This compares with its likely expenditure this year of $3.2 billion.) The Fund says that its total needs over the three years 2008- 10 will be $12-18 billion. Over the past few months, donor government studied the Funds needs and effectiveness and deliberated over how much each would commit to for the three years 2008-10. They then came to Berlin last week to announce their decisions.
The Replenishment Meeting was chaired by Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, and opened by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The pledges constitute the largest single financing exercise for health that has ever taken place. The amounts pledged were as shown in the full article online. Some highlights of the pledges were as follows:
- The three countries that pledged (or are projected to pledge) the most for 2008-10 were USA ($2,172 m.), France ($1,274 m.) and the UK ($729 m.).
- The three countries that pledged the largest percentage of their Gross National Income (GNI) were Norway (0.087%), Ireland (0.076%) and Sweden (0.075%).
- The country that pledged the largest amount per capita was the Netherlands. (Of course, as one participant humorously pointed out, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged considerably more per capita.)
- The three developed countries that pledged the smallest percentage of their GNI were Japan, Finland and Switzerland (0.004% each).
- The three countries whose pledges grew the most since from their pledges for the previous three years were Russia (increased 8.7 times), Saudi Arabia (3.6 times) and Spain (3.4 times).
Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 77