Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria aims to triple spending

The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Friday announced that it will need to triple its annual spending to between $6 billion and $8 billion by 2010 to meet the needs of developing countries, Reuters AlertNet reports.

According to Global Fund Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine, the new funding goals, which are about three to four times current annual spending, will require additional contributions from the public and private sectors. According to Reuters AlertNet, the Global Fund will seek donations from countries and business to help reach its spending target (Reuters AlertNet, 4/27). Kazatchkine said the new goal is an "inspiring challenge." He added that the increase "will allow the world to do much, much more to reach" goals set by the Group of Eight industrialized nations and the United Nations, such as providing universal access to antiretroviral drugs, providing every African children with an insecticide-treated net and reducing TB deaths by half. The Global Fund supports 30% of HIV/AIDS programs, about two-thirds of TB treatment and 45% of malaria treatment programs worldwide, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. "Programs we support are currently saving 3,000 lives per day," Kazatchkine said (AFP/Yahoo! News, 4/27).