Global\u00a0Fund\u00a0Observer<\/b><\/p>\n
The UK\u2019s generosity to multilateral institutions, and to the Global Fund in particular, has come at the expense of the country\u2019s bilateral aid, according to STOPAIDS, a network of UK agencies working on HIV. [1]<\/strong><\/p>\n STOPAIDS has released a new publication, a stocktake review of the work of the Department for International Development(DFID) on HIV, in which it says that although the UK increased its contribution to the Global Fund in the last replenishment, and has maintained its level of contribution to UNAIDS and UNITAID, the country has implemented significant cuts to its bilateral programmes focusing on HIV.<\/p>\n STOPAIDS said that DFID\u2019s overall funding for HIV declined 22% between 2012 and 2015 (from \u00a3416 million to \u00a3324 million). DFID\u2019s bilateral funding for HIV-specific programs declined from a peak of \u00a3221 million in 2009 to \u00a323 million in 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cCuts to country offices have cancelled out DFID\u2019s increased contribution to the Global Fund,\u201d STOPAIDS said. Funding for civil society has been particularly hard hit, it added, declining from \u00a330 million in 2011 to just \u00a38 million in 2015.<\/p>\n The network said that despite a legacy of UK government financial leadership within the HIV response, civil society and the U.K. Parliament have raised concerns that DFID\u2019s commitment to HIV is fading.<\/p>\n \u201cDFID has closed the majority of its bilateral programmes specifically focused on HIV and no longer has a position or strategy on HIV,\u201d STOPAIDS stated. The UK\u2019s presence at high-level international forums where HIV is discussed has also declined in recent years, it added. Multilateral funding is making up an increasing share of DFID\u2019s overall funding for the global HIV response. In 2012 multilateral spending accounted for 25% of total funding, but by 2015 the proportion of multilateral spending had increased to 57%.<\/p>\n All three multilaterals \u2013 the Global Fund, UNAIDS and UNITAID \u2013 performed well in the UK\u2019s Multilateral Development Review in 2016.\u00a0\u201cThe UK recognised the Global Fund as achieving exceptional results and UNITAID was found to be a very good match with UK development objectives,\u201d STOPAIDS said.<\/p>\n At the Global Fund\u2019s Fifth Replenishment Conference in September 2016, the UK pledged \u00a31.1 billion, an increase of 37% over its previous contribution. According to STOPAIDS, at the conference the UK referred to the Global Fund as \u201cone of the world\u2019s most effective aid institutions.\u201d The UK also recently recommitted to maintain funding for UNAIDS at \u00a315\u00a0million per year \u201cin a challenging context when many other donors are pulling back,\u201d STOPAIDS stated.<\/p>\n Source<\/p>\n GFO. While it has given generously to the Global Fund, the UK has slashed its bilateral aid for HIV, NGO says. GFO 320 (20 September 2017). Reference<\/p>\n
\nwww.aidspan.org\/node\/4342<\/a><\/p>\n