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Africa: Rich Countries Stall on New AIDS Funding
AFRICA ACTION
Africa Policy E-Journal
July 19, 2003 (030719)
Africa: Rich Countries Stall on New AIDS Funding
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Meeting in Paris to consider additional funding for the Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, donors added a few
additional promises and little new funding to meet an expected
shortfall of $500 million to $800 million this year, with an
additional $3 billion needed to cover grants in 2004. Meanwhile,
President Bush is urging Congress to restrict U.S. grants to the
Fund to only $200 million a year. European countries have yet to
meet the expectation that they would pledge another $1 billion. In
comparison, the cost of the war in Iraq is now estimated by the
Pentagon at $3.9 billion each month, or $130 million a day. The
$200 million U.S. Global Fund contribution proposed by Bush for one
year thus amounts to little more than 36 hours of war expenses in
Iraq.
This posting contains a press release from the Global Fund putting
as positive a spin as possible on new promises, a June 17 letter
from the White House explicitly urging Congress not to provide more
money than the President's request of only $200 million for the
Global Fund and $2 billion total for 2004 funding, a brief note
from Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS reports on the status on congressional
action as of Friday, and excerpts from an opinion piece by Jeffrey
Sachs commenting on the default by both Europe and the U.S.
Another posting today contains several statements by African AIDS
activists released during and after President Bush's Africa trip.
+++++++++++++++++end summary/introduction+++++++++++++++++++++++
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Global Fund Press Release 16 July 2003
http://www.globalfundatm.org
For more information, contact Jon Liden at +41 79 244 6006, email
jon.liden@theglobalfund.org or Robert Bourgoing at +41 22 791 1714,
email robert.bourgoing@theglobalfund.org.
Presidents of the European Commission and France commit to a
billion dollars from Europe for the Global Fund
Paris - At an international conference to highlight the progress of
the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, European
Commission President Romano Prodi committed personally to fight
for a one billion dollar contribution from Europe for 2004.
"I am the guarantor for the one billion," President Prodi said at
the closing ceremony for the International Conference to Support
the Global Fund. "But you must respect that the European Union is
a democracy of 15 sovereign states, and we don't always agree on
everything. Sometimes we work a little like the turtle in the
fable: we may sometimes work slowly, but we can be trusted to reach
our goals in the long run."
In his closing speech, French President Jacques Chirac reaffirmed
his call for Europe to contribute one billion dollars each year,
while calling for the United States to also allocate one billion
dollars each year to the Fund.
"The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an
outstanding instrument," President Chirac said. "It was set up in
record time. It is already operating on the ground, saving lives.
Naturally we will assess its efficiency very carefully. But I am
convinced that this multilateral response expresses, better than
any other, the ideal of solidarity and collective action that must
impel us."
Earlier in the day, other leaders had also pronounced their support
for the Global Fund.
"I believe in the Global Fund," said Nelson Mandela in an address
to the conference. "I believe that it has shown great progress, and
that we must, in turn, commit more support to its success and
future."
Mr Mandela addressed 250 delegates consisting of ministers of
health and foreign affairs, senior development officials, private
sector executives and non-governmental organizations in a
conference hosted by the French government. The conference was
co-chaired by US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy
Thompson, the French Minister of Development and Francophonie,
Pierre André Wiltzer, and the French Minister for Health, Family
and Disabled Persons, Jean-François Mattei.
There was a unified call by the speakers for sufficient new money
to ensure that the Global Fund can finance the rapidly increasing
needs of programs in countries with heavy burdens of disease.
Some countries announced new pledges to the Global Fund. A number
of other countries re-confirmed their support.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it would
accelerate its payment of the remaining US$ 50 million of a
previous US$ 100 million commitment in order to help increase the
amount of funds available for the third round of funding coming up
in October. The French-based public relations group Publicis
unveiled a long-term pro bono collaboration to improve awareness of
the Global Fund.
"Turning the tide of AIDS, TB and malaria is a priority second to
none," said Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations in
his address. "The Fund is there to fill a specific and substantial
gap to scale up by providing effective funding (to fight the three
diseases)."
The Global Fund is a funding mechanism for country-based programs
of proven interventions against the three diseases. Initial funding
is provided for two years, with continued support dependent on
program performance. In its first two rounds of grant applications,
the Global Fund approved grants worth US$ 1.5 billion over two
years to more than 150 programs in 92 countries. This money will
provide more than 500,000 people living with HIV/AIDS with
antiretroviral treatment, and medical and educational support for
half a million children orphaned due to AIDS. It will also enable
the detection and treatment of two million additional cases of
tuberculosis, and deliver 20 million combination drug treatments
for drug-resistant malaria.
Since March, the Global Fund has doubled its disbursement every
month and is on track to provide US$200 million to its recipients
by the end of the year. Through 2004, US$2.6 billion has been
pledged to the Fund, with an additional US$2.1 billion pledged for
2005 to 2008. An additional US$3 billion is required to fund its
next three rounds of approved grant applications.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, July 17, 2003.
Hon. Bill Frist,
Majority Leader, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
DEAR LEADER FRIST:
It is my understanding that an amendment regarding funding for
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria may be offered today to the
Department of Defense FY2004 appropriations bill currently under
consideration on the Senate floor.
I want to reiterate the Administration's strong support for the
FY2004 budget request of $2 billion for all international HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria activities, including $200 million for the
Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria. This request is a
solid first step in fulfilling the President's commitment of
providing $15 billion over the next five years to address the
HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa, the Caribbean and around the world.
I recently finished traveling to Africa with the President where he
saw first-hand the positive impact that current U.S. funding is
having in caring for the sick, providing treatment for individuals
living with HIV/AIDS and extending lives. He also witnessed the
vast infrastructure and capacity challenges that need to be
addressed in order to scale-up many of these efforts.
It is by careful design that the President's FY2004 budget request
is for $2 billion. This request was based on the sound judgment
that funds in excess of this amount could not be spend effectively
in this first year. These funds will be spent in a focused manner,
increasing each year, to efficiently and effectively create the
necessary training, technology, and infrastructure based needed to
ensure delivery of appropriate medical treatment protocols and the
long term success of this initiative.
These funds are vital to our efforts to combat HIV/AIDS abroad, but
must be spent in the right way, at the right time. Similarly,
efforts to increase funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB
and Malaria are not appropriate at this time. Currently, the United
States is responsible for over 40% of all contributions made to the
Global Fund. We have reached a critical time in the Global Fund's
development, and other nations must join the U.S. in supporting the
work of the Global Fund.
For the reasons stated above, the Administration strongly opposes
any efforts to increase funding beyond the $2 billion requested in
the President's FY2004 budget. I appreciate your unwavering
leadership on this issue and look forward to the continued strong
bipartisan support of the Senate in ensuring the success of this
lifesaving initiative.
Sincerely,
Dr. Joseph F. O'Neill
Director, Office of National AIDS Policy.
From the Congressional Record 17 July 2003
Kaiser Daily News HIV/AIDS Report
A service of kaisernetwork.org
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/hiv
February 18, 2003
1. Senate Appropriations Committee Passes Foreign Aid Bill With
$1.4B To Fight AIDS; Democrats Will Push for More Money
The Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday approved an $18.1
billion fiscal year 2004 foreign aid spending bill, including $1.4
billion to fight AIDS, but Democrats said that they will push for
more money to fight the epidemic, Reuters reports. Additional
money for the five-year, $15 billion global AIDS initiative (HR
1298) is expected to be included in other spending bills that the
committee has yet to consider, according to Reuters (Allen,
Reuters, 7/17). The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday
approved its version of the FY 2004 foreign aid spending bill,
which includes $1.43 billion for AIDS. The House so far has
approved a total of $2 billion for the AIDS initiative in FY 2004,
an increase of about $500 million over FY 2003 spending. The full
House on July 10 approved a bill (HB 6470) to provide funding for
labor, education and health programs, including $644 million for
foreign AIDS research and prevention and $155 million for combating
other infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis (Kaiser Daily
HIV/AIDS Report, 7/17). The House, which authorized up to $3
billion for the fight against AIDS, expects to appropriate about
$2.1 billion -- a 70% increase in spending over last year's total
-- according to the Christian Science Monitor (Chaddock, Christian
Science Monitor, 7/18).
Amendment Expected in Senate Floor Debate
The $1.4 billion in the Senate measure includes $700 million for
U.S.-run programs under the global AIDS initiative, up to $250
million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
and $150 million for the International Mother and Child HIV
Prevention Initiative, according to CongressDaily/AM (Caruso/Hess,
CongressDaily/AM, 7/18). President Bush in June 2002 announced a
three-year, $500 million international HIV/AIDS initiative focused
on preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Africa and the
Caribbean (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/19/02). Sen. Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking member of the Foreign Operations
Appropriations subcommittee, said that when the measure is debated
on the floor he plans to offer an amendment to the bill that would
increase HIV/AIDS spending by $1 billion (CongressDaily/AM, 7/18).
The full Senate last week approved 78-18 a nonbinding resolution
calling for $3 billion in 2004 to fight AIDS overseas, even if the
amount exceeds the ceiling mandated in Congress's annual budget
resolution (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/17).
Defense Bill
The full Senate yesterday passed a $368.6 billion defense spending
bill (S 1382), voting 71-24 to defeat an amendment by Sen. Robert
Byrd (D-W.Va.) that would have transferred $1.1 billion from
defense spending to the AIDS initiative (Guggenheim,
AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/18). Republicans yesterday said that
AIDS funding should not be in the defense bill but should be "dealt
with in other bills," according to Reuters (Reuters, 7/17). The
Senate defense bill will be reconciled with a similar measure
passed last week in the House (Guggenheim, AP/Las Vegas Sun, 7/17).
Democrats and AIDS advocates have said that U.S. credibility will
be damaged if Congress fails to appropriate $3 billion for the
first year of the AIDS initiative (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report,
7/11). "Just as we feared, the $3 billion turned out to be an
empty promise to some of the most desperate people in the world,"
Paul Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance, said
(Reuters, 7/17).
Jeffrey Sachs, "A Miserly Response to a Global Emergency"
Financial Times, July 17, 2003 (http://www.ft.com)
[excerpts only]
.
A miserly response to a global emergency
By Jeffrey Sachs
The writer is director of the Earth Institute at Columbia
University
The donor meeting in Paris yesterday on behalf of the Global Fund
to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria definitely had its surreal
aspects. The chairmanship of the Global Fund board is held by Tommy
Thompson, the US health secretary, in spite of the fact that
President George W. Bush has essentially starved the fund of
financial resources. So there was the peculiar spectacle of the
health secretary gamely talking up the very fund that his president
had been undermining.
The broader context was also bizarre. All speakers agreed that the
three pandemics are out of control and that the campaign against
them is of unique importance. Eloquent testimonials demonstrated
the value of the fund in dozens of impoverished countries. Yet at
the end of the day, the rich country governments only inched up
their contributions and failed to commit enough to meet the fund's
minimum need of $3bn for programmes in 2004.
The US is a case in point. ... [the U.S. contribution] amounts to
a derisory 70 cents per American ... Mr Thompson noted at the
meeting that the US contribution might be nudged up to $500m or
more by Congress but he did not mention that Mr Bush had so far
opposed that initiative. When a White House official briefed me a
few months ago on why Mr Bush was bypassing the Global Fund, he
said simply that the president did not believe in committing
taxpayers' dollars to multilateral initiatives of which the US is
not in charge.
We should not be overly impressed by US claims that it is doing
enough in other ways. The US has failed utterly to get treatment to
dying Aids sufferers, despite the life-saving value of
antiretroviral drugs. In the first 2 1/2 years of the Bush
presidency, only a handful of Africans have received combination
antiretroviral therapy as a result of US bilateral programmes;
meanwhile 5m Africans have died of the disease and another 30m are
currently infected. ...
Nor should we be taken in by claims that the budget is too tight.
The Bush administration ... is spending $3.9bn each month to
station troops in Iraq - an amount that would more than fully
finance the Global Fund in 2004, and save millions of lives in the
process.
None of this can excuse Europe's neglectfulness. Earlier this year,
Jacques Chirac, the French president, sought to mobilise a European
contribution of $1bn for next year. This would amount to about $3
per European - roughly the cost of one beer. The donor meeting
yesterday was initially envisaged as the occasion where that $1bn
would be announced. But it was not to be. ...
Some of the blame for this lies with Mr Bush. At the time of the
Evian summit, he told the other Group of Eight leaders that the US
would indeed scale up its own contributions if Europe, Japan and
other donors would do the same. A practical approach widely
discussed at the time was $1bn from the US, $1bn from Europe and
$1bn from Japan and the rest - essentially the same $3 per person
spread across the 1bn people living in the rich world. But just as
the European leaders began to mobilise their $1bn, Mr Bush got back
in touch with them to say he had spoken out of turn: the US would
in fact be sticking with the $200m contribution it had originally
envisaged. This took the steam out of the European initiative.
Europe should be able to act with or without the US - but the
negative message from the US definitely broke the momentum.
... while the rich countries may continue with their excuses, they
count for nothing with the dying people of impoverished countries.
Yesterday, while the rich countries gave their speeches and paraded
their paltry generosity, Aids, tuberculosis and malaria claimed the
lives of another 15,000 Africans.
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Date distributed (ymd): 030719
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +US policy focus+ +health+
The Africa Action E-Journal is a free information service
provided by Africa Action, including both original
commentary and reposted documents. Africa Action provides this
information and analysis in order to promote U.S. and
international policies toward Africa that advance economic,
political and social justice and the full spectrum of
human rights.
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