OF NOTE THIS WEEK

The Global Fund is facing a financing gap of $4 billion through 2010, Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine told AFP in advance of the Fund's mid-term review meeting, which begins in Spain on March 31.

Kazatchkine said he hoped the meeting would lead existing donors to boost their contributions and would prompt new donors to step up. "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.

NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DONORS

• The Global Fund welcomes the U.S. government's announcement of a $900 million contribution for 2009
• PEPFAR posts presentations from an expert panel on Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV
• The Global Fund states its position on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's regulatory action against Ranbaxy Laboratories in India

OTHER NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS

• Global Fund Needs $4 Billion (AFP)
• EU Vows to Boost AIDS Fight in Southern Africa (AFP)
• Life Expectancy to Jump in Third World: UN Report (Montreal Gazette)
• HIV/AIDS Rate in DC Hits 3% (Wash. Post)
• In Africa, Pope Reaffirms 'No Condoms' against AIDS (Reuters)
• FDA Approves Female Health's Women's Condom (AP/Forbes)