REF Executive Director Joanne Carter Responds to Financial Crisis at the Global Fund
November 23, 2011 — As a consequence of unfulfilled commitments from donor governments, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is facing a massive financial crisis. In response, at the Global Fund’s 25th meeting of the Board on November 20, the Board cancelled all plans for new grant-making effective immediately until 2014. The Board also announced that it does not have enough funding to support some recently approved grants. The Global Fund is the largest international funder for tuberculosis and malaria programs, and the second-largest international funder for HIV/AIDS programs, providing life-saving services to millions of people around the world.
Joanne Carter, executive director of RESULTS Educational Fund and former member of the Global Fund Board representing non-governmental organizations in the northern hemisphere, issued the following statement in response:
“This unprecedented decision to cancel plans to fund new grants for vital AIDS, TB, and malaria programs until 2014 has led to a crisis in the international response to these three global killers. This was a completely avoidable crisis, and it will leave millions of people without access to basic medical care. The terrible paradox is that it is unfolding just as we’ve turned the corner in the global fight against AIDS. The latest scientific evidence proves that treating patients for HIV early reduces the spread of the virus by 96 percent, halting AIDS in its tracks. At the same time, brand new TB diagnostics that can pave the way toward TB elimination have begun rolling off the shelves. And we’re on our way toward eliminating malaria in countries that were previously the most ravaged.
“It’s in this moment that the Global Fund has been incapacitated by its own donors. It’s as if the Allied Forces have landed in France and are marching into Germany, and the generals have called off the attack. It’s unfathomable. With World AIDS Day rapidly approaching on December 1, all eyes will be on President Barack Obama with the expectation that he’ll announce a historic emergency response that will snap the other donors out of their malaise and put us back on track to defeating AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.”
source: RESULTS Educational Fund