Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies - 19 March 2003
Non-governmental organizations from the US and Europe today publicly launched a campaign, "Fund the Fund," on the opening day of the World Health Assembly in Geneva with the goal of ensuring immediate and long-term funding for the Global Fund.
"It is absolutely essential during the forthcoming G8 summit at Evian that there is a commitment to meet the financing needs of US$1.4 billion for this year and that, for the future, these states agree on an equitable funding mechanism based on gross national product," said Dr. Helene Rossert, who represents NGOs from developed countries on the board of GFATM.
She reviewed the effectiveness of the Global Fund and pointed out that thanks to the initial pledges, funding was now in place to provide anti-tuberculosis treatment to two million people, anti-malaria protection to 30 million African families, medical treatment for 500,000 people living with AIDS and support to 500,000 children orphaned by AIDS. Dr. Rossert said that given the commitments made by governments at the UN special session on HIV/AIDS, held in June 2001, delegates to the World Health Assembly have an obligation to explain the failure to scale up the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in particular.
Her colleague, Dr. Massimo Barra, also spoke to the media today in Geneva. "The situation is now reaching a crisis. Not only are we concerned about the Global Fund's ability to fund new scientifically-approved programmes, we are now faced with the possibility that we will not be able to support approved programmes beyond two years. This is outrageous when we are talking about providing people with life-saving drug therapy for AIDS and tuberculosis," said Dr. Barra of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and a NGO representative on the board of GFATM.
"The World Health Assembly will have been a failure if it does not ensure real and practical progress on the delivery of affordable treatments for opportunistic infections and anti-viral medication to the vast majority of people who currently have no access to treatment. This means building health systems and supportive community level networks of volunteers," he added.
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