Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report: Bush Administration 'Threatening To Undermine' Global Fund, Opinion Piece Says

[Guest guest]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS

Report

Monday, October 25, 2004

Opinion

Bush Administration 'Threatening To Undermine' Global Fund,

Opinion Piece Says

The Bush administration is " threatening to undermine " the Global

Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria despite the fact

that the organization is the " best weapon in the war against these killer

diseases, " Heidi Topp and Roxanne , who are volunteer citizen

lobbyists with the Albuquerque, N.M., chapter of the advocacy group RESULTS,

write in an Albuquerque Tribune

opinion piece (Topp /, Albuquerque Tribune, 10/21). Although

Congress authorized $547 million for the fund for fiscal year 2004, the bill (HR

1298) authorizing the President's

Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief stipulates that the total U.S.

contribution to the fund cannot exceed 33% of total contributions to the fund.

Under the requirement, other donors would have to contribute a total of $1.11

billion to the Global Fund for the United States to provide the total $547

million that Congress authorized to go to the fund. Because the fund was $243

million short of the $1.11 billion by the July 31 deadline, the United States

only would be able to contribute $427 million and would roll the remaining $120

million back into the PEPFAR budget. However, Ambassador Randall Tobias, head

of the State

Department's Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator,

in August said he would extend a deadline for other countries to contribute to

the Global Fund to ensure that the United States can supply the maximum amount

authorized by Congress for the fund (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report,

8/19).

U.S.

'Must Support' Global Fund

If the United States withholds part of its total contribution to the Global

Fund, some experts estimate that in the " short term " there will be

100,000 new HIV infections worldwide that could have been prevented and 25,000

HIV/AIDS patients who will not receive needed medications, Topp and

write. In the long term, withholding funds could " seriously undermine

the work of the Global Fund, which has proven to be a successful, innovative

effort, " according to the authors. Although PEPFAR is

" laudable, " the program is " limited " because it includes 15

countries -- only one of which is in Asia -- and " largely fails to address

tuberculosis, " Topp and say. " [H]olding out on the

Global Fund sends the wrong signal to our allies around the world " because

it " will discourage other donors from fulfilling their pledges and making

future commitments, " Topp and write, concluding,

" [W]ithout new resources, the fund will not be able to make any more

grants, withdrawing a literal lifeline from millions of people. The United

States can and must support, not sabotage, these efforts " (Albuquerque Tribune,

10/21).

Kolleen Marie Bouchane

Global Legislative Associate

RESULTS

440 First Street N.W., Suite 450

Washington, D.C. 20001

phone: (202) 783-7100 x129

fax: (202) 783-2818

email: kbouchane@...

website: www.results.org

AIDS

MARATHON!!!!!!!!!