Getting the world on side

The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, called last April for the establishment of a multimillion dollar global fund to combat …

The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, called last April for the establishment of a multimillion dollar global fund to combat HIV/AIDS. He said between seven and ten billion US dollars was needed, on an annual basis, to halt the spread of the disease in the developing world, where 90 per cent of HIV-infected people live. This is five times what those countries and their international donors currently spend on AIDS.

Two out of every three people infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. For every American who died of AIDS in 1999, 110 Africans succumbed to the disease. Drugs would go a long way toward alleviating suffering in Africa, but economists estimate that by 2005 it will cost $4.4 billion to supply the drugs to everyone who could benefit from them.

At the unprecedented UN special session on AIDS in June, Annan appealed to governments and private donors in the developed world to contribute to the global fund. "Our goal is to make the fund operational by the end of this year," he said. By that stage, the United States had pledged 200 million dollars, France about 128 million, Britain 105 million and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 100 million dollars.

The Taoiseach, who was the only European Union prime minister in attendance, said that Ireland's development budget would increase by over $100 million in 2002 in line with his commitment to reach the UN target on Overseas Development Assistance by 2007 . "Ireland will spend at least $30 million per year of these additional funds on HIV/AIDS programmes. My primary concern is to ensure that this extra money reaches communities most affected. We will channel the funding to ensure efficient and effective delivery and impact at the country and local level. We will support the new Global Fund for Health and HIV/AIDS; NGOs and international bodies who are playing a crucial role in all sectors of the fight against the disease." When asked later how much would be allocated to the Global Fund, he said he would discuss this with the Secretary-General.

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While the Government supported the establishment of the Fund in principle, it had concerns about how it will function in countries at the front-line of the battle against AIDS. The Government was anxious to ensure that the money was channelled through existing national policies and structures rather than through a new layer of international bureaucracy. This was the reason, according to government sources, why the Taoiseach did not make a specific commitment to the fund as such. For the time being, th e Government decided to take part in the discussions about the manner in which the fund would operate and, if it were satisfied with the modus operandi that developed, then it would make a financial commitment.

Ireland Aid, the development arm of the Department of Foreign Affairs, was asked by the UN to participate in a Transitional Working Group (TWG), which was established by the Secretary-General to agree the objectives and working methods of the Fund. Ireland Aid has pressed for a greater say by the developing countries in the development of the Fund.

The TWG convened for the first time in Brussels on October 11th and 12th and agreed on the title, "Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria". The group includes representatives from over 40 developing and developed countries as well as UN agencies, the World Bank the private sector, foundations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). It is chaired by Dr Chrispus Kiyonga, former minister of health in Uganda. There is a technical support secretariat based in Brussels. The Irish representative on the TWG is Dr John Kevany, Professor Emeritus of International Health from Trinity College Dublin.

The TWG has been charged with putting the fund on an operational footing by the end of the year, at which time the TWG and the secretariat are to be dissolved. It has been agreed that "The Fund is a financial instrument, not an implementing entity" and "will base its work on programmes that reflect national ownership and respect country-led formulation and implementation processes".

The TWG decided to open a bank account as quickly as possible to allow governments to fulfil their pledges. An account for private donations had already been established. At this stage about $1.47 billion has been committed to the Fund, which is still a long way off the target set by Kofi Annan.