The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Saturday called for a fourth round of grant funding proposals, according to a Global Fund release. The fund has already committed $2.1 billion over two years to 224 programs in more than 120 countries to fight the three diseases. Grants from the Global Fund likely will serve as the "main opportunity to finance the massive expansion of services needed" to fulfill the World Health Organization's goal of providing antiretroviral treatment to three million HIV-positive people by 2005, according to the release. The fund is also calling for the fourth round of funding proposals to include "ambitious, large-scale" projects aimed at fighting malaria. Global Fund Executive Director Richard Feachem said, "A number of countries are now ready to conduct a major offensive against malaria. We have effective tools to prevent and treat malaria. We need to spread these tools to as many countries and people as possible." HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, who serves as chair of the Global Fund board, said, "We are looking for proposals of the highest quality, particularly from partnerships that include the private sector and local non-governmental organizations, to meet the greatest challenge of our times -- turning back the tide of these three pandemics." The deadline for proposal submissions is April 5. The proposals will be considered by an independent Technical Review Panel, comprised of health and development experts. Proposals approved by the panel will then be considered by the Global Fund's board, which is scheduled to meet at the end of June, according to the release (Global Fund release, 1/10).

A fact sheet, titled "Global Funding for HIV/AIDS in Resource Poor Settings," is available online from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The fact sheet presents data on the range of resources currently directed to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in resource poor settings, including bilateral, multilateral, and private sector support, as well as domestic funding by affected country governments.

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