Let’s fight for the Global Fund

none 24 Oct 2006 – 20:57 (modified on 10 Nov 2006 – 16:24)

by mlepeska

At the end of October, the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria meets in Guatemala (31 October - 3 November). At this Board Meeting some important decisions have to be taken that directly relate to the achievement of Universal Access in 2010 and the MDGs in 2015. A new round of proposals awaits approval (and funding) and the Board has to decide on a future role of the Global Fund

UPDATED OCTOBER 2006

Round 6

In April this year, the Board already approved the launch of a new round of proposals, Round 6. A vast majority of the Board (being composed of donors, recipient countries and civil society delegations) supported this decision. Since then, many developing countries have submitted proposals of which 85 have been recommended for funding for a total amount of 950 million US dollars.

But the Board will only be able to approve grants for which it has sufficient financial pledges, and the current shortfall of resources is still approximately 300 million dollars. Though most donors approved of Round 6 during the Board Meeting in April, so far only two have come forward with any new pledges. These two were Spain who made an extra contribution earlier this year, partly for Round 6, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who this year pledged 500 million dollars for the next five years, of which 200 million can be used for Round 6.

So now the proposals for this new round have to be approved at the beginning of November, while the money is still lacking to fund them. However, if we ever want to get any closer to Universal Access in 2010 or the MDGs in 2015, we need to start scaling up and funding new proposals now and not wait until next year, or the next, or the year after that.

The international community set these goals themselves, which makes them also responsible for achieving them, or at least make the best efforts to do so. The recipient countries have kept to their end of the bargain, by submitting sound proposals to fight the three diseases. Now it is time for the donors to come forward and provide the necessary resources.

Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund, says: “This robust demand for new resources show that countries both need and can absorb substantial additional resources to fight the three pandemics. Through Round 6, the donors are being presented with high-quality programs which will save thousands of lives and build a global response to these three pandemics. Donor countries must respond to this challenge by pledging sufficient additional resources so all recommended programs can be funded.”

Future role of the Global Fund

The Global Fund also currently is in the middle of a process defining the strategy for the coming years. One of the key issues in this strategy process is the future size of the Fund. So far the Fund has approved grants worth a total of 5.7 billion US dollars, of which 2.6 billion so far has been disbursed. For future size the Board is considering several options, in the range of 4-6 billion to 8-11 billion a year in 2010.

The estimated global needs for the three diseases in 2010 are 30 billion US dollars, based on calculations by UNAIDS and the Global Plan to Stop TB. By going for a Global Fund share of 10 billion a year by 2010, the Global Fund would account for approximately 75% of the TB and Malaria funding and 35% of HIV/AIDS funding worldwide (vs currently 65% of TB and Malaria funding and 20% of HIV/AIDS funding).

The NGO delegations on the Global Fund Board are lobbying for a future size of 10 billion a year by 2010. They say that pragmatic concerns about the pace of resource mobilization and of donor’s commitments to significantly increase funding for the Global Fund do not justify a lower number, which is what the donors probably want. The Fund should show a mission-driven ambition and therefore be forthright in declaring that it wants to play a significant and proportionate role in responding to the three global disease pandemics.

Also concerns about pace of scale up, the achievability of universal access and recipient absorptive capacity do not justify setting low(er) targets. For too long, concerns about absorptive capacity resulted in paralysis of action. In fact, there is evidence that scale-up has been accelerating and continues to be robust even in the face of early-stage bottlenecks and inefficiences.

What can you do?

NGOs in all donor countries are at this moment lobbying their governments to keep their promises, and make more money available – for Round 6 and for the future. They do so by writing letters and requesting meetings. Want to help? Then work on your government or join the groups that are already doing that. You can use the Advocacy Alert prepared by ICASO for reference at www.icaso.org.

For more info also see www.theglobalfund.org

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