Global Fund Approves Sixth Round of Grants Totaling $847M

The board of the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Friday in Guatemala City approved its sixth round of grants, committing $847 million to 85 projects in 63 countries, the U.N. News Service reports. The $847 million in grants, which will be committed over a five-year period, will help provide antiretroviral treatment to 200,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. The grants also will help provide treatment for nearly 400,000 people living with tuberculosis and support the provision of 11.5 million insecticide-treated nets to prevent the spread of malaria, among other provisions (U.N. News Service, 11/3). Africa will receive about half of the grant funding, while the remainder will be distributed among other regions -- including Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean -- with high disease burdens (AngolaPress, 11/4). More than half of the grants will be committed to HIV/AIDS projects, and the remainder will be evenly divided between TB and malaria projects. The $847 million in sixth-round grants brings the Global Fund's total commitments to $6.6 billion (U.N. News Service, 11/3). "Millions of people around the world have been reached with life-saving services through Global Fund financing," Global Fund Executive Director Richard Feachem said, adding, "These additional commitments will build on that progress and enable us to reach many more of those still in need. We are grateful to the Global Fund's many generous donors who made the approval of these new grants possible" (Global Fund release, 11/3).