Global Fund Meets To Review Financial Needs, Role in Fighting Diseases Worldwide
The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria this week is meeting in Sweden to review its total financial needs and discuss how to best fund programs fighting the three diseases worldwide, the Associated Press reports. The fund currently supports approximately 300 programs in 180 countries, according to Global Fund Executive Director Richard Feachem. "The value of these programs are already $8 billion, so we have quickly become a large mechanism to finance the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. But in the future, we need substantial funds to be able to be predictable and sustainable, which is the reason for having launched this replenishment mechanism," Feachem said. Delegates at the meeting, including U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette and UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot, also will review how much of a role the fund should play in financial efforts to curb the three diseases. "We are seeing results in the terms of more people being treated, thanks to the support of the Global Fund and others. We are also seeing a decline in the number of new [HIV] infections among young people in many African cities," Piot said, adding, "But it's not enough to say we've got money for today. We also need to make sure that there is a predicable and sustainable funding when it comes to the fight against AIDS because AIDS is going to be with us for many years." The meeting ends on Wednesday (Grandell, Associated Press, 3/14).
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