New Diseases Fund Revives Debate Over Aid to Myanmar

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria pulled out of Myanmar last year, citing excessive restrictions by the ruling military junta. Now, the "3-Diseases Fund," whose donors comprise mainly European nations, is expected to commit $100 million over five years to help fill the gap. The 3-D Fund would support local and international nongovernmental organizations, UN and local government health providers, according to a briefing document circulating among aid groups in Myanmar, formerly Burma.

Government ministries would provide input to 3-D at the developmental stages of programs, and the minister of health would chair a coordinating body that makes financial requests of 3-D. The fund would be overseen by an autonomous board, with daily operations run by a UN-appointed manager.

But while the document says 3-D is being crafted for "transparency, accountability and equity," critics are unsure how it would contend with the same restrictions that forced the Global Fund's retreat last August.

In February, the junta formally announced foreign aid rules requiring travel permits, official minders on field trips and more restrictive transport rules for supplies and materials. Aid must be deposited in a state-run bank and withdrawn in foreign exchange certificates -- a system activists say is ripe for abuse.

UN agencies admit the restrictions make work tougher, but they say work can still be done. The Global Fund's withdrawal "fueled a perception that you can't work" in Myanmar, said Brian Williams, UNAIDS country coordinator. But UNAIDS and its partners, he said, have helped treble condom uptake since 1999, and more than 2,500 AIDS patients are receiving antiretroviral drugs, a quintupling since 2004.

Myanmar's junta spends just 3 percent of the nation's budget on health but 40 percent on the military. The country's 50 million people incur some of Asia's highest rates of deadly diseases.

Back to other news for July 25, 2006