October 8, 2010

October 8, 2010

OF NOTE THIS WEEK

Monday and Tuesday marked the Third Replenishment Meeting for the Global Fund in New York. Chaired by Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, the two-day conference brought together high-level representatives from donor governments and private sector organizations to reaffirm their commitment to the Fund and to announce new funding pledges for 2011-2013 (see recent press releases from the Global Fund on specific funding commitments here). By the end of the meeting, donor commitments totaled $11.7 billion; the largest ever financial pledge to the Fund. The United States pledged $4 billion, a 38% increase over what they provided in the last three-year period, the Washington Post reported. Despite the 20% increase over the $9.7 billion pledged for 2008-2010, the final pledge amounts to less than the lowest funding target set by the Global Fund ($13 billion) leading up to the replenishment meeting. In response to the commitments, Global Fund Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine stressed that "we need to recognize that it's not enough to meet expected demand and will lead to difficult decisions in the next three years", the New York Times reports. Kazatchkine said that while no one will be cut off treatment, targets for the next few years must be lowered due to funding constraints.

NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DONORS

  • Together with the pledge of $4 billion, the US announced a call to action for fellow donors, implementing country partners and other key stakeholders to develop and implement a comprehensive set of reforms to maximize the impact of Global Fund grants
  • Donors commit $11.7 billion to the Global Fund for the Next Three Years
  • In an effort to make their operations and research more open, the World bank announced the 'Open Date, Open Knowledge, and Open Solutions' initiative that will enable free access to data that had previously not been available
  • The Global Fund's Born HIV Free Campaign has reached completion with 700,000 names of people who signed up in support

OTHER NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS

HIV/AIDS MONITOR RECOMMENDATIONS AND POLICY IMPACT

  • The HIV/AIDS Monitor has been tracking the policy changes among PEPFAR, the Global Fund and the World Bank MAP related to the recommendations that have come out of our research. Explore these changes using our interactive flash tool.