Global Fund Needs $4 Billion to Address Budget Needs Through 2010, Executive Director Kazatchkine Says

The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria needs $4 billion to address its budget needs through 2010, Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine said on Monday ahead of the organization's mid-term review meeting in Spain on March 31, AFP/Google.com reports. "In 2010, the Global Fund will be facing a gap which we estimate to be around $4 billion," Kazatchkine said, adding that he hopes the two-day meeting in the city of Caceres will prompt existing donors to increase their contributions. He also said that he hopes the meeting -- which will review the Global Fund's performance and consider additional funding needs -- will result in new donors, despite the global economic crisis. According to Kazatchkine, the global economic situation has increased the need for funding. "The governments of the developing countries will be in deeper trouble to fund their health programs, so that means that paradoxically, the crisis is one more reason to increase the aid to the development," he said (AFP/Google.com, 3/16).