UN-BACKED FUND REACHES OVER 2 MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE WITH AIDS TREATMENT

More than 2 million people living with HIV have been reached with life-saving treatment thanks to the United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, marking a 30 per cent jump from last year.

Results released today show that on top of the 2.3 million people receiving anti-retroviral medicines for AIDS, Global Fund-backed schemes have also provided 5.4 million people with effective treatment for TB, the leading cause of death among HIV-infected people.

Further, the Fund reported success in the fight against malaria, with 88 million insecticide-treated bednets delivered to families, up from 59 million nets last year.

"In less than eight years, the Global Fund has gone from a concept to a driver of change," said Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine. "When we first began our work in 2002, few people in developing countries were being treated for AIDS or tuberculosis. Malaria was a neglected disease. Many countries simply did not have the resources to fight these diseases effectively."

But now, "the story is changing dramatically," he said, adding that while greater efforts are needed, "real progress" against the diseases has been made.

The information released today combined data from Global Fund-supported initiatives in 140 countries, and showed, among other things, that nearly 80 million people have been reached by HIV counselling and testing, almost 4 million AIDS orphans and vulnerable children have been provided with basic care and support, and 1.4 billion condoms have been distributed worldwide.
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UN-BACKED INITIATIVE WILL GET POWERFUL MALARIA DRUGS TO THE POOR

Anti-malaria drugs much more powerful than previous versions will be put within reach of millions more people in Africa and Asia due to an initiative launched today by the
United Nations-backed fund that fights major epidemics.

"There is no reason any child should die of malaria anymore," said Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is managing the new $225 million partnership to reduce the price of the drugs.

"We have insecticide-impregnated bed nets to protect families from mosquitoes and effective drugs to treat those who do fall ill. Now we only need to ensure that all who need these things get them," he added

The combination of bed nets and drugs that cure malaria quickly has reduced malaria deaths by between 50 per cent and 90 per cent in areas where both are widely available, according to the Fund.

Malaria is a potentially deadly disease that is transmitted through mosquito bites and kills more than 2,000 children every day. Children make up nearly 90 per cent of the nearly 1 million people who die from malaria every year, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia.

The new drugs, known as "artemisinin combination therapies" or ACTs, are currently 10 - 40 times more expensive when sold over the counter than the old drugs which have lost their effectiveness because the malaria parasite has developed resistance to them.

As a result of the high cost, many still buy these cheaper less effective drugs and currently, only one in every five patients treated for malaria has access to ACTs, the Fund said.

The new initiative, known as the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria, will reduce the price of effective malaria drugs so they can drive older, ineffective drugs out of the market.

The initiative was developed through Roll-Back Malaria – a broad partnership of public and private institutions that includes the Global Fund along with the World Bank, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Dutch Government, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Foundation.

The initial costs of $225-233 million for medicines in the first two years will be shared by the Government of the United Kingdom and UNITAID, an international mechanism to finance quality-assured medicines and diagnostics against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, created by France and supported by Norway and 26 other nations.

Several other organizations and Governments have indicated willingness to contribute additional funding to the initiative, the Fund said.

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UN-BACKED FUND NEEDS ADDITIONAL $4 BILLION TO FUND AIDS, TB AND MALARIA EFFORTS

The question of how to fill an estimated $4 billion funding gap in the United Nations-backed initiative that helps countries fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria needs to be urgently addressed, donors at a meeting in the Spanish city of Cáceres stressed today, as they wrapped up a review of resource needs.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria – which helps finance national AIDS programmes – estimates that donor funding for the period 2008-2010 stands at $9.5 billion, $4 billion short of the expected demand of at least $13.5 billion.

"In view of the funding gap and the impact of a global economic crisis on the developing world, the Global Fund looks forward to how leaders of G-20 [Group of 20 most industrialized] countries address this situation at their summit in London on 2 April," said Michel Kazatchkine, the Global Fund's Executive Director.

He added that the Group of Eight (G-8) leaders will also address the same challenge when they meet in La Maddalena, Italy, in July.

Delegates gathered in Spain for the two-day Mid-Term Review meeting of the Global Fund's Second Voluntary Replenishment process said much of the additional resources needed by the Fund would have to come from donors who have committed to increasing their official development assistance (ODA) budgets in order to meet development financing targets set at a international conference in Monterrey in 2002.

The participants, representing 28 donor countries and foundations, also called on the Global Fund to step up efforts to seek new government donors and attract more private sector contributions, according to a news release issued by the Fund.

Several donors indicated that they would soon consider making additional contributions in response to the success achieved by Global Fund programmes. The last two years have seen reductions in mortality in a number of countries for AIDS and malaria, and a continued fall in global TB prevalence that was first noted in 2004.

"We are now affecting the course of these three epidemics. In the case of malaria, in particular, we are on a trajectory to achieve universal access to bed nets by 2011 and have reason to be hopeful the Millennium Development Goal for malaria can actually be reached," said Mr. Kazatchkine, referring to one of several development targets set by world leaders in 2000.

He added that steps were being taken to ensure efficiency gains in the Fund's grants and in the Secretariat in areas such as travel, telecommunications and corporate procurement of goods and services.
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