GENEVA, Jan 29, 2009 (AFP) - The head of the global fund against AIDS and other diseases in poor countries on Thursday urged the Obama administration to take the lead in overcoming a multi-billion dollar funding gap despite the economic crisis.
"I would underscore that, at this point in time, we need US leadership because right now I think the US is lagging behind," said Rajat Guspa, head of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
"The global fund is not immune to the environment today of the global financial crisis," he added during a telephone news conference from the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The economic slump coincides with a five billion dollar shortfall for 2009 and 2010 that could threaten progress in fighting the three diseases, out of a total budget of eight billion.
Officials estimated that about half the shortfall should be coming from the United States.
United Nations economic advisor Jeffrey Sachs suggested that the new US administration should tap bonuses reportedly paid recently to senior executives at banks receiving federal support.
"I would suggest the administration reclaim these bonuses which are absolutely unjustified, completely unconscionable, and put the money into the global fund immediately."
"There is no shortage in funds when the rich world in three months has found three trillion dollars for bank bailouts," he added.
Guspa and UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe estimated that disease directly deprived impoverished African economies of billions of dollars a year, while successful treatment and prevention returned thousands of people to productive lives.
Sidibe warned that countries succumbing to the temptation to cut contributions due to domestic economic pressures could help precipitate "a major, major problem in the future."
"We cannot abandon ... millions of people on treatment or break the hope of 12 million AIDS orphans," he said. " We need a fully-funded global fund."
The Global Fund was created by the G8 group of industrialised nations in 2002 and accounts for one quarter of all international donations to fight AIDS.
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