Donations Resuscitate Fledgling Fund for AIDS

A $100-million pledge this week from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as $1 million given by Switzerland-based Winterhur insurance group, show that the private sector sees benefits in joining the fight against AIDS. This has occurred as it has become clear that the UN will not be in charge of the trust fund.

"There were questions whether it would make it," said Gates Foundation director of global health programs Gordon Perkin, who feared that the fund might die when donors were slow to respond to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for $7 billion to $10 billion in additional spending to fight AIDS. "I don't think so now," Perkins concluded.

"It is a trust fund without the trust," said one foundation member who added that many potential donors had feared having the UN and the World Health Organization in charge because of their reputation for bureaucratic inefficiency. European Union nations decided at a UN meeting in Brussels last month not to participate in the fund, citing worries that the money might not be spent appropriately.

As private groups and pharmaceutical companies have come to the table, representatives from donor countries and developing nations have begun to develop a plan. The Global Fund for AIDS and Health will be modeled on an immunization program pioneered by the Gates Foundation, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI). "It would not be a UN fund. It would not be linked to decisions of the General Assembly. It would not be a World Bank fund; it would have its own funding mechanism," said Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette. Frechette said that more donations are expected during the UN special session next week.

In addition to the initial US contribution of $200 million, France has pledged $127 million, and Britain has promised $100 million. The International Olympic Committee has pledged $100,000, as has Annan himself. Many countries are expected to announce donations at a Group of 8 summit in Italy in July.

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