Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria: Background and Current Issues

摘要

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent foundation intended to attract and rapidly disburse new resources in developing countries for the struggle against infectious disease. The Fund is a financing vehicle, not a development agency, and its grants are intended to complement existing efforts rather than replace them. The origins of the concept of an independent funding mechanism to fight AIDS and other diseases lie partly in a French proposal made in 1998, in ideas developed in the 106th Congress, and in recommendations made by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in April 2001. President Bush made the founding pledge of $200 million for a disease fund in May 2001. The Global Fund was established in January 2002, following negotiations involving donor and developing country governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and the United Nations. Through four rounds of grant awards, the Global Fund has approved 313 projects in 127 countries. Proposals are submitted to the Global Fund by Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs) based in the recipient countries and including representatives of the public and private sectors, NGOs, people living with the diseases, and others. Grants are made to Principal Recipients (PRs), which may be NGOs or government agencies, and their operations must be audited. PRs are also monitored by Local Funding Agents (LFAs), which may be accounting firms or other independent organizations, and which report to the Global Fund. Contributions to the Fund to date total $3.4 billion, and the Fund has disbursed just over $1 billion. The Fund estimates that it needs $2.2 billion in 2005 to cover grant renewals and new grants, while $1.4 billion has been pledged to date.