GENEVA, Dec 18 (AFP) - A new global fund for combatting AIDS and other major diseases, which has 700 million dollars (776 million euros) to pay out in 2002, will be based in Geneva and begin operating from the end of next month, organisers said on Tuesday.
The choice of Geneva, home to the United Nations European headquarters, was made over other possible candidates Paris and Brussels, a spokeswoman for the fund's founding committee said, confirming a report in Le Temps newspaper.
The aim of the fund, initiated by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan earlier in the year, is to support programmes for fighting not only AIDS but also tuberculosis (TB) and malaria by teaming up with UN agencies and non-governmental organisations, as well as the private sector.
The fund's secretariat, made up of 12-16 people, will be based near the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Joint UN AIDS programme, UNAIDS.
"We don't want to be a new UNAIDS or a new WHO, we want to support their work with increased resources so that countries can scale up their work to fight these diseases," Lisa Jacobs, told AFP.
Some six million deaths every year result from AIDS, TB or malaria, according to fund organisers.
The board of the fund, officially launched by the Group of Eight industrialised countries at their July summit in Genoa, Italy, will meet for the first time on January 28 and 29.
It will be made up of seven representatives from developing countries and seven representatives from donor-country governments, as well as two representatives from both NGOs and the private sector.
In addition, the board will include WHO, UNAIDS and World Bank representatives and a person affected by or living with AIDS, TB or malaria in a non-voting seat.
About 1.6 billion dollars has been committed to the fund so far, but only 700 million dollars will be available to pay out in 2002.
The needs of the fund were initially calculated by Annan to be in the region of seven billion dollars a year.
Microsoft chief Bill Gates has so far been the biggest private donor giving five million dollars to the fund.
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