The advances made possible by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria could be at risk if donors cut their pledges, UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe said Monday. There is concern that the recent global economic shock could negatively affect support for Global Fund programs.
Some 94 percent of African HIV patients who receive antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) do so with the support of external donors, said Sidibe. "If we stop now, if we reduce the financing, the people who are on treatment today - we will transform their hope for universal access into a universal nightmare, because they will start dying," he said.
On March 24, the Global Fund will meet in The Hague to assess how it can meet its targets for each of the diseases by 2015. It forecasts three different public health scenarios based on levels of financial commitment to the fund, ranging from $13 billion to $20 billion during the years 2011-2013. In October, the Global Fund will convene in New York City to solicit contributions from government and private donors for the third time since its 2002 founding.
In South Africa, the HIV treatment program is heavily supported by external donor funding, said Aaron Motsoaledi, the country's health minister. Some 920,000 patients there receive ARVs, yet 1.7 million need them. Expanding treatment access, as President Jacob Zuma announced in December, depends on increasing financial resources.
On Monday, the Global Fund released its "Results Report," which describes substantial progress attributable to supported programs. TB in many countries is declining, and the fund projects prevalence could be halved by 2015 with the increases in donor support already pledged.
The fund's "Resource Scenarios 2011-2013" can be read online at http://www.theglobalfund.org/documents/replenishment/2010/Resource_Scenarios_en.pdf.
03/08/10
GLOBAL: UNAIDS: Funding Cut Could Lead to HIV ‘Nightmare’
Source: Associated Press:: Nastasya Tay; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention