Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria Aims to Triple in Size

At a meeting Friday, the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria agreed to raise its spending target to $6 billion a year to meet projected demand, a statement said. The board said the fund needs to triple in size by 2010, and increased demand from developing countries could potentially raise the spending figure to $8 billion annually.

Michel Kazatchkine, the fund's new executive director, said the ambitious goal set by the board - which includes representatives of donor and recipient governments, aid groups, and the private sector - represents "a vote of confidence" in the fund's work. The public-private partnership supports some two-thirds of global TB treatment, 45 percent of malaria treatment, and nearly 30 percent of HIV/AIDS programs.

"Programs we support are currently saving 3,000 lives per day," Kazatchkine said. "The increase in funding will allow the world to do much, much more to reach G8 and UN goals like providing AIDS treatment to all who need it, having every African child sleep under a bed net, and cutting the death toll of TB in half," he noted.

The Global Fund was created in 2002 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to channel money into local programs in poor countries. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation offered an initial $100 million donation, followed by $50 million in 2004 and a pledge of $500 million more last year.

The board said the expansion, however, would require significant additional funding from new and existing public and private sources and "innovative" financing mechanisms.

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