Global fund targets 15bn US dollar to fight infectious diseases

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has set the target of raising 15 billion U.S. dollars to help countries fight the three infectious diseases in the 2014-2016 period, its executive director Mark Dybul said here on Monday."Innovations in science and implementation have given us a historic opportunity to completely control these diseases. If we do not, the long-term costs will be staggering," Dybul told reporters in Brussels ahead of a preparatory meeting with national delegations later this week to present an assessment on overall needs for the next three years."The target is ambitious, but we cannot afford the alternative," Dybul added, while acknowledging financial difficulties in many developed countries that are traditional donors.The Global Fund, founded in 2002, is the largest multilateral organization funding fights against these three diseases. It has support over 1,000 projects in 151 countries, providing AIDS treatment for 4.2 million people, anti-tuberculosis treatment for 9.7 million people and 310 million insecticide-treated nets for the prevention of malaria.For the next three years, the projected 15 billion dollars, when used in combination with other funding, would mean that over 1 million new infections of HIV each year could be prevented, 17 million tuberculosis patients could be treated and millions of new cases of malaria could be prevented, according to the Global Fund.The majority of the funds is most likely to come from governments of the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Japan, which are the five largest donors to the Global Fund. The private sector is expected to contribute around 10 percent.The Global Fund's assessment report indicates that a total need of 87 billion dollars is forecast for 2014-2016 period for their HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs across the globe.With an estimated 37 billion dollars from domestic financing and 24 billion dollars from external financing, the organization aims at filling a large part of the gap through fund-raising.It also launched a new funding model for more effective investment, particularly reaching highly vulnerable and marginalized groups as well as collaborating with national health organizations in emerging economies.Dybul noticed that many emerging economies prefer not to follow the traditional way of direct donation, therefore other strategies were developed by the Global Fund, such as co-investing with local governments and transferring established projects to local authorities responsible for future funding.