Global Fund Board approves US$2.75 billion in new grants
10 November 2008
Geneva - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is pleased to announce that its Board has approved 94 new grants worth US$2.75 billion over two years. It is the eighth time the Global Fund Board approved new proposals to support programs fighting the three diseases and it is the largest round in the history of the organization, well over twice the size of any previous round. The decision was made in New Delhi over the weekend, where the Global Fund held its board meeting.
Round 8 now brings the Global Fund’s overall portfolio to US$ 14.4 billion in 140 countries.
“This is the highest amount of new financing approved by the Global Fund ever. These new resources will significantly help the world in achieving global targets such as universal access to AIDS treatment and prevention, and cutting the number of deaths from tuberculosis and malaria by half by 2015,” said Rajat Gupta, Chair of the Global Fund Board.
“This exceptional expression of increased demand requires a renewed resource mobilization effort,” said Michel Kazatchkine, the Executive Director of the Global Fund. “We have a fantastic message to bring back to the rich nations of the world: Programs to fight these three diseases save lives, reduce disease burdens, and strengthen health systems. We are asking you for resources for an effective way to reduce the gap between rich and poor and build a better and safer world.”
Of the approved proposals, the majority of resources go to malaria programs accounting for 51 percent. Proposals for AIDS and tuberculosis account for 38 percent and 11 percent, respectively, of the approved funding.
Ninety percent of the approved grants today are for low-income countries, with the majority of resources – 77 percent – for Africa and the Middle East. Asia and the Western Pacific will receive 14 percent of the newly approved funding, Latin America and the Caribbean 6 percent, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia 6 percent.
The Global Fund’s next funding round will be approved in November 2009.
In a separate development, Friends of the Global Fund South- and West Asia was launched in New Delhi. Friends South- and West Asia will be a leading advocate for programs supported by the Global Fund in the region. The new advocacy organization will also seek to help Global Fund recipient countries to get the best possible results from the grants that they receive. Its Board of Directors and Advisory Board include a number of leading regional business leaders, health experts and academics.
Friends South- and West Asia is the latest such organization to be established since the Global Fund’s creation in 2002 and joins a network of associations around the world including the United States, Japan, Europe, Africa and Latin America.