Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Wall Street Journal - August 19, 2004
Marilyn Chase, marilyn.chase@wsj.com
The U.S., the world's largest contributor to the Global Fund, earlier appropriated $547 million for it. However, Congress passed a law limiting U.S. contributions to 33% of total gifts to the fund. The deadline passed last month.
"Unfortunately as of July 31, the rest of the world's contributions fall short of the $1.1 billion required for the United States to contribute its maximum," Mr. Tobias said. The rest of the world's donations fall short of that total by about $243 million.
Mr. Tobias announced a grace period of about six weeks for the rest of the world's donors to catch up. "If donors around the world make contributions totaling $243 million before September 30, then the U.S. will release the $120 million that I am holding in abeyance," he said.
He called the deadline "a new matching period" that would "provide an incentive" for other countries to make new gifts or accelerate the timetable for fulfilling past pledges to the fund.
Other governments operating on different fiscal years may have trouble with such a tight deadline. If the deadline isn't met, Mr. Tobias says he may use the withheld funds at his discretion for other AIDS programs. He declined to be specific.
Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund, couldn't immediately be reached for comment. The Global Fund has in recent months acknowledged that donations have fallen far short of pledges. U.S. law requires the two-thirds threshold for other donor gifts be met with funds received, not merely promised.
Mr. Tobias said the U.S. hopes other donors will step up to fulfill their pledges before the end of September, enabling the U.S. to contribute the maximum allowed by law.
Based in Geneva, the Global Fund is a public-private partnership dedicated to raising and dispersing funds to fight the most lethal epidemic diseases world-wide. More than half of the $3 billion committed so far goes to fight AIDS in 100 countries around the world.
At the International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok last month, the fund released a new public-service announcement now airing on the VH1 network, including one that calls AIDS the real "weapon of mass destruction."
AIDS has killed 22 million people world-wide and has infected nearly 40 million more.
The Global Fund remains confident European donors will step up to fulfill pledges "to ensure the full contribution of the U.S.," a spokesman said.
James V. Palmer, the Global Fund spokesman, said Mr. Feachem, the fund's executive director, "reached out to Ambassador Tobias," suggesting the two-month extension "to accommodate other European government's budgetary schedules that don't necessarily conform to the U.S. deadline of July 31."
Other observers were angered by Washington's move. "They are crowing about how much money they give to Global Fund, but constantly scaling back," says Gregg Gonsalves, an activist with Gay Men's Health Crisis, a New York-based AIDS advocacy group. "There should be no conditionality placed upon donations to the Global Fund. In the end, this won't hurt the European Union. It only hurts people with AIDS."
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