US$ 968 million committed for new Global Fund grants
30 June 2004
In its latest round of funding approvals, the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has committed US$ 968 million to new grants over two years.
These 69 country grants, which are approved with an initial funding commitment for the first two years, have a lifetime of five years. Over the full five years the grants will put 932,000 people on antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS. They will also finance 123 million ACT anti-malarial treatments, 44 million impregnated bed nets and DOTS treatment for 640,000 new tuberculosis patients.
This is the fourth round of grant approvals since the Global Fund was established in 2002 and brings the total Global Fund two-year commitments for all four rounds of funding to $3 billion for 307 grants in 128 countries and two regions.
More than 85 percent of the money approved in this round will go to low-income countries. Nearly 70 percent will go to Africa, 48 percent will be for HIV/AIDS, while 40 percent will be spent on malaria.
Over four rounds and the full five-year terms of all programs approved to date, the Global Fund is investing over US$ 8 billion and will finance ARV treatment for 1.6 million people, DOTS treatment for 3.5 million patients, 160 million ACT treatments, 108 million impregnated bed nets, and voluntary HIV/AIDS counseling and testing for 52 million people.
“Global Fund money will save millions of lives and prevent disease in millions more,” says Tommy Thompson, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and Chair of the Global Fund Board. "We are working hard to ensure the Global Fund is sustainable and vital into the future so people living with AIDS and infectious diseases receive the life-saving care they need."
Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the world’s premier financing mechanism in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The three diseases kill more than six million people each year.
The Global Fund provides grants to locally-developed programs to prevent and treat AIDS, TB and malaria. Countries and organizations may apply for funding by submitting proposals in ongoing funding rounds. Proposals are first screened for eligibility by the Secretariat and are then forwarded to an independent Technical Review Panel of experts in the diseases who assess proposals for technical merit and consistency according to proven best practices. In January, the Global Fund issued its fourth call for proposals for grant funding with an application deadline of early April.
“The Global Fund grants will make a considerable contribution to beating back the three epidemics of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria,” says Professor Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “For the Global Fund, these grants are only a start, but, I believe they will begin to change the three pandemics. We expect to see a noticeable reduction in mortality in a few years, in particular from malaria.”