Japanese Anti-Poverty Campaign Donates US$ 250,000 to The Global Fund
08 November 2005
Grassroots Campaign Sees Fight Against Diseases as Essential to Overcoming Poverty
Geneva- The "Hottokenai Sekai-no-Mazushisa" Campaign ("Don't Let it Be; World Poverty"), a national campaign of Japanese non-governmental organizations to fight poverty has announced today that it will donate US$ 250,000 of the proceeds from the sale of white plastic bracelets to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The Hottokenai campaign, following the inspiration of the "Make Poverty History" campaign in the United Kingdom and the "One" campaign in the USA, decided to send part of the donated funds to the Global Fund because it "would like to show the world that Japanese people are willing to keep their promises to fight AIDS, TB and malaria globally and to call on world leaders to fight the three diseases in a combined effort" the campaign said in announcing the donation to the Global Fund.
This "people's contribution" comes in addition to a recent pledge from the Japanese government to provide US$ 500 million to the Global Fund over the coming years. Japanese civil society, led by Friends of the Global Fund, Japan, has played an important role in securing this continued support for the Global Fund in Japan.
"The Global Fund was conceived when the G8 leaders met in Okinawa in 2000," said Richard Feachem, the Executive Director of the Global Fund. "There, the leaders agreed that poverty cannot be fought and sustainable development cannot be secured as long as these three diseases ravage poor populations around the world."
"The Global Fund is immensely grateful and honored to receive this donation from the people of Japan," continued Feachem. "It shows a trust in our ability to reach those most in need and to ensure results which make us both proud and humble. We will make sure that your money is well spent."
For US$ 250,000, 50,000 families can receive a long-lasting bed net which will protect them against malaria, or 500 people can receive ARV treatment for AIDS for a year.
Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the world's premier financing mechanism for programs against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, providing a quarter of international finance against AIDS worldwide, more than half of all international malaria financing and more than two-thirds of international financing for TB programs. Together, the three diseases kill more than six million people each year. A total of US$ 4.3 billion has been committed to nearly 350 programs in 128 countries.
The Global Fund provides grants to locally-developed programs to prevent and treat the three pandemics. 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 March, the Global Fund issued its fifth call for proposals for grant funding with an application deadline of mid-June. Of all submitted proposals, 31 percent were recommended for funding.