Press
Release
7
July 2002
First
Fund Grants Make Possible
Six-Fold Increase in ARV Treatment in Africa
Multiyear
Grants Will Double Number of People Treated in Developing
Countries;
Shows That Countries Are Ready for Further Exponential Increases
"Billions
More Dollars Needed Now For More Prevention and Treatment"
Says Fund Board Member Milly Katana
International
AIDS Conference – Grants recently awarded by the
Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria will make it possible
over the next five years for twice as many people in developing
countries to receive anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment, and
represent a six-fold increase over the current provision
of ARVs in Africa.
This
progress demonstrates the impact the Fund will have
as it disburses its first grants and signals the exponential
scale of contribution to both prevention and treatment programmes
it will make in future rounds.
In
its first round of proposal review, the Fund approved
the financing of programmes that will expand ARV treatment
to over 220,000 people living with HIV/AIDS over five years,
doubling the current number of people who now have access
to these medicines in developing countries. Over 60% of
that expansion is planned for 10 countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa, including South Africa. UNAIDS estimates that 230,000
people are currently being treated with ARVs in developing
countries, with only 30,000 being treated in Africa.
“This
is a catalytic and tangible first step,” said Milly
Katana, Fund Board member representing non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) in developing countries. “It is
just the beginning of much more that can be done to support
people who have been fighting this plague with unlimited
courage while lacking any other weapons. Billions more dollars
are needed now for more prevention and treatment measures,
and we are depending on a caring and generous world to help.”
According
to UNAIDS, 96% of the 40 million adults and children living
with HIV/AIDS are in developing countries, an additional
45 million may be infected by HIV by the end of the decade,
and up to 70 million people could die of AIDS by 2020. Yet
in developing countries less than 1% of those infected have
access to ARVs and Africa alone faces a shortfall of 2 billion
condoms. The World Health Organization has announced a goal
of reaching 3 million, or 50% of those in need of ARVs,
by 2005. The Fund’s first grants are an important
first step towards meeting this goal.
The
Fund approved, in its first grant review proposals,
spending US$ 1.6 billion over five years to fight HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria. The Board immediately committed
US$ 616 million for the first two years of approved programmes.
Over 60% of the total financing is for Africa, and nearly
70% is for HIV/AIDS. The funds will support the full range
of “best practice” interventions.
“The
Fund balances its contribution to providing ARVs with an
equally remarkable commitment to prevention,” said
Paolo Teixeira, Fund Board member representing Latin
America and the Caribbean. “Not a single HIV/AIDS proposal,
including those with treatment components, was approved
that did not have at the forefront proven prevention interventions
– including the distribution of condoms and clean needles,
the prevention of vertical transmission from mothers to
their children, and the building of voluntary counselling
and testing centres."
According
to studies published in The Lancet and Science, 30 million
HIV infections can be averted by 2010 if prevention programmes
receive immediate support for scaled interventions such
as the distribution and use of 6 billion condoms annually.
All of the proposals approved by the Fund for HIV/AIDS
include money for prevention.
The
proposal process is a major early success for the
Fund, created in January of this year. Since that time,
the Fund has:
- Catalysed
the creation of country-led mechanisms which brings donors
and governments together with NGOs, people living with
HIV/AIDS, faith-based groups and the private sector to
plan and boldly implement new responses to diseases of
poverty.
- Stimulated
the development of over 300 proposals which translate
strategic planning to detailed operational plans with
immediate programmatic capacity to spend money on programmes
to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.
- Approved
an unparalleled volume of grants which will give funds
directly to implementing partners, including NGOs, to
quickly reach vulnerable populations most affected by
HIV/AIDS and most as risk for HIV infection.
- Launched
a second round of proposals on July 2 for submission by
late September, after which the Fund hopes to approve
programmes in many of the countries not receiving commitments
in the first round.
The
Fund applauds the parallel and complementary efforts
of other international organizations – including bilateral
and multilateral agencies, foundations and NGOs – which
are making money available to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis
and malaria. The Fund looks forward to the substantial
contributions it will make to this global response with
its upcoming proposal rounds.
The
Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is an independent,
public-private partnership working to attract, manage and
disburse new resources to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria,
and to rapidly disburse these funds to effective prevention
and treatment programmes in the countries with greatest
need.
For
additional information, please contact Melanie Zipperer
at +41 79 477 1722 or Jim Palmer at +34 64 939 7957.
