THAILAND/AIDS CONFERENCE: Ireland received high marks at the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok yesterday for its support of the Global Fund - the main funding mechanism for fighting the pandemic. Denis McClean reports from Bangkok
Mr Bernard Rivers, executive director of the Global Fund watchdog, Aidspan, told The Irish Times that Ireland's €30 million contribution over the last three years is roughly five times what would be expected based on GNP.
"However, it would be deeply disappointing if Ireland only gave the same amount in 2005 as it gave this year.
"Some countries need to give more to make up for the guys who give nothing and needs are much greater for next year," said Mr Rivers.
The Minister of State for Development Co-operation and Human Rights, Mr Tom Kitt, met the Global Fund director, Dr Richard Feachem, and assured him that Ireland would continue to contribute next year, when it is estimated the fund will require $3.5 billion, of which only $800 million has been pledged so far.
Much of the money will go towards putting 1.6 million people on life-saving anti-retroviral therapy (ART).
Princess Mabel van Oranje of the Netherlands, who is also director of the Open Society Institute, singled out Ireland as "impressive" when she presented a critical review of new funding mechanisms to the plenary session of the conference.
She said: "No one seems accountable for duplication of efforts, or for the fact that some countries receive disproportionately high levels of support, while others receive little or nothing."
Mr Kitt, who chaired a session on the role of donor agencies, said Ireland was committed not only to the Global Fund but also to supporting the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the International Partnership for Microbicides.
Development Co-operation Ireland has initiated a study to track the effectiveness of the Global Fund, and the Minister will today meet representatives of the Clinton Foundation and the International Partnership for Microbicides.
He then flies to Sudan to see at first-hand the plight of people displaced by the conflict in Darfur province, where Irish aid agencies are active.
Mrs Mary Robinson, the former president and executive director of the Ethical Globalisation Initiative, spoke about how the pandemic is affecting women, who account for almost half of the 38 million people infected with the virus.
She listed several urgent needs and dismissed as "totally inadequate for women's realities" the US-endorsed ABC approach (Abstain, Be faithful, Condoms). Mrs Robinson said female-controlled HIV prevention methods were urgently needed.
As chairwoman of the Council of Women World Leaders, she has made HIV/AIDS a priority.
Mrs Robinson said it was critical that leadership initiatives involve people living with HIV/AIDS, and that they are at the forefront of decision-making, policy-making and agenda setting.
There were echoes throughout the day from the previous night's opening ceremony when practically everybody quit the main arena before the only HIV positive representative, a former Thai injecting drug user, Mr Paisan Suwannawong, rose to speak.
He delivered his speech to an empty hall before breaking down in tears. Yesterday morning Mr Stuart Flavell, the international co-ordinator of the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, expressed the organisation's "deep anger and sadness regarding the profound disrespect shown to our brother, Paisan, and through him, all people living with HIV/AIDS".
Dr Alice Welborn, chairwoman of the Global Network of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, spoke movingly about the devastation of diagnosis, and the emotional toll which advocacy can place on women who are HIV positive and the unwelcome limelight it can attract for their families.