Compromise decision point on the launch of Round 5

• The Board decides to launch Round 5 today
• The draft of the Guidelines for Proposals, as approved by the PMPC after the Ninth Board Meeting, will be released on January 30, 2005.
• The Fifth Call for Proposals and finalized Guidelines for Proposals will be issued immediately following the Replenishment Conference in March 2005. A forecast of the resources available for the Round will be announced at the time that the Call for Proposals is issued. The Board is mindful that such a Call must be consistent with resources forecast to be available at the end of 2005.
• Round 5 proposals will be approved at the Eleventh Board Meeting in September 2005, following the second Replenishment Conference.
• The Board makes an urgent appeal to donors and potential donors that have not made their pledges for 2004 and 2005 and onward to make sure pledges at the earliest possible opportunity.

Read the latest press release

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s ninth board meeting focuses on how increased investments can drive back the three pandemics in one of the world’s worst-affected regions.

In its opening session, the Board has heard the views of four East African presidents on the need for increased investments in health if these countries are to maintain economic growth and social development.

More about the opening session

Since it was created in 2002, the Global Fund has approved proposals worth US$ 3 billion over two years to 314 grants in 128 countries. Of this, $570 million goes to the countries of the Lake Victoria Region. Board members have spent the previous four days visiting Global Fund-supported programs in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

The Global Fund Board consists of nine members representing donors and ten members representing countries and organizations eligible as recipients of Global Fund financing. In addition, there are four non-voting members, representing the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, the World Bank and the Swiss government. The Board approves funding, the Global Fund’s budget and operational procedures, and sets overall policies.

Board Meeting site visits to Kenya in Nyeri and Kisumu

On November 15th and 16th, the Kenyan Ministry of Health hosted a number of Global Fund Board members and Secretariat staff on visits to two districts and a variety of sites delivering prevention, care and treatment to Kenyan communities.

The group visited provincial, district and sub-district hospitals, clinics, voluntary counselling and testing centers, and a community dispensary. They also met a Positive Support Club for people living with HIV/AIDS, a family decimated by AIDS and a large group of students rallying at a school to get involved in interactive HIV prevention education.

See photo galleries of the site visits in Nyeri and Kisumu.

Tanzania launches a new factory to produce one million long-lasting insecticidal nets per year

Global leaders gathered in Arusha, Tanzania on Wednesday 17 November for the launch of the OlysetŪ Net at A to Z Textile Mills-the first factory in Africa to produce this long-lasting insecticidal mosquito net-agreed that conditions were right for a massive scale-up in the battle against malaria.

Read a Roll Back Malaria Partnership press release: New Tools and Increased Funds Will Beat Malaria, Say Global Leaders

Meet the Global Fund Boardmembers