AIDS: Will Funding Levels Limit Treatment?

Supporters of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria say $20 billion is needed to replenish its resources and expand its grant programs. Many, however, believe it is unlikely donors will commit to this amount at next week's funding meeting.

"We're kind of at a crucial moment in terms of the fight against HIV," said Jen Cohn, Doctors Without Borders' HIV policy adviser. "We continue to be hopeful that the donor nations will realize the importance of this current round of grants and the future rounds of grants that the Global Fund will be giving in order to reach goals like universal access and use treatment as prevention."

However, Cohn said, "I am very concerned that donations from wealthy countries to the Global Fund will not even reach a level of $13 billion that the Global Fund says it needs to basically just keep its doors open and continue existing grants, without significantly scaling up or being able to fund new, more ambitious grants."

Tuesday was designated Global Day of Action, and activists, non-governmental organizations, and others highlighted the funding issue. In South Africa, for example, demonstrations were held at the German and Italian embassies. Germany and Italy have not yet announced their Global Fund contributions. Germany is the third-largest contributor to the fund behind the United States and France.

"We suspect they're going to be drastically decreasing their donations from previous years," said Cohn. "And in fact there has been a preliminary announcement that Germany may give just $200 million in [fiscal year 2011] but then not actually contribute anything in fiscal years '12 and '13," she said.

Japan and France both announced donations that represent a "modest increase from previous years," Cohn said. Funding from the United States, she said, will be "crucial."

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


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