Additional $8B Needed To Fight HIV/AIDS in Developing Countries Over
Next Three Years, UNAIDS Says
An additional $8.2 billion from donors will be needed over the next
three years to fight HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries, UNAIDS
announced on Wednesday at a meeting in London with representatives from
the governments of France, the United Kingdom and the United States,
the Wall Street Journal reports (Naik, Wall Street Journal, 3/10). U.K.
Department for International Development Secretary Hilary Benn; French
Minister for Cooperation, Development and Francophonie Xavier Darcos;
U.S. Ambassador and head of the State Department's Office of the Global
AIDS Coordinator Randall Tobias; and UNAIDS Executive Director Peter
Piot spoke at the meeting, titled "Making the Money Work" (Kaiser Daily
HIV/AIDS Report, 3/9). Although $6.1 billion was spent in 2004 to fight
and prevent HIV/AIDS in developing countries, UNAIDS said that total
pledges for 2005 through 2007 are $8.2 billion short of the $14.1 billion
needed, according to the Journal (Wall Street Journal, 3/10).
Estimates Lowered
However, some AIDS advocates said that UNAIDS' current estimate of
funding needed to fight HIV/AIDS from 2005 to 2007 is $6 billion -- or 30%
-- less than its previous estimate, according to a Health GAP release.
UNAIDS' Report of the Global AIDS Epidemic released in advance of the
XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 2004
estimated that $19.9 billion in funding would be needed to fight HIV/AIDS
in developing countries by 2007. According to the release, UNAIDS
reduced its estimate at Wednesday's meeting "without any technical
substantiation." Some AIDS advocates said they believe that the estimate was
lowered "in response to pressure" by donor countries and that some donor
countries might be planning to "downsiz[e]" their contributions based on
the lowered estimate, according to the release. "UNAIDS should not
expect anyone, government or civil society, to agree to technically
unsound, unjustified numbers that are vastly different from preceding
estimates," Asia Russell of Health GAP said (Health GAP release, 3/9). Paul
Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance, said, "It's simply
unheard of for an agency like UNAIDS, an advocate of greater resources
to stop AIDS, to suddenly say less is needed after all, even as the
crisis is escalating." He added, "It's painful to have to question UNAIDS
leadership. But, regretfully, we feel that an independent
investigation is needed into the methodology, assumptions and overall process of
developing the new estimates" (GAA release, 3/9).
Coordination
In addition to gaining enough funding to fight the disease in
developing countries, spending all of the money contributed will be a
"challenging task" because many resource-poor nations do not have the
infrastructure to absorb donations and face "severe shortages" of health
personnel, the Journal reports. Governments, the Global Fund To Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria and independent health groups need to better
coordinate to avoid "overlapping approaches, conflicting ideologies and
varying paperwork requirements that overwhelm the health ministries of
developing countries," according to the Journal. "Lack of good coordination
claims lives," Piot said, adding, "Before there was money, it was only
a theoretical issue" (Wall Street Journal, 3/10). Piot added, "In order
to get ahead of the epidemic, the international community must work
together to scale up the AIDS response. This means maximizing donor
coordination, mobilizing new resources and ensuring that the available funds
for AIDS are spent effectively on the ground" (U.N. News Centre, 3/9).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the sake of the lives of the millions of Africans who die EVERY year from TOTALLY PREVENTABLE CAUSES, please get involved in the Global Call for Action Against Poverty.
http://www.whiteband.org
Thanks to ALL of you who have done whatever you can to help the world's poorest people.
Next Three Years, UNAIDS Says
An additional $8.2 billion from donors will be needed over the next
three years to fight HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries, UNAIDS
announced on Wednesday at a meeting in London with representatives from
the governments of France, the United Kingdom and the United States,
the Wall Street Journal reports (Naik, Wall Street Journal, 3/10). U.K.
Department for International Development Secretary Hilary Benn; French
Minister for Cooperation, Development and Francophonie Xavier Darcos;
U.S. Ambassador and head of the State Department's Office of the Global
AIDS Coordinator Randall Tobias; and UNAIDS Executive Director Peter
Piot spoke at the meeting, titled "Making the Money Work" (Kaiser Daily
HIV/AIDS Report, 3/9). Although $6.1 billion was spent in 2004 to fight
and prevent HIV/AIDS in developing countries, UNAIDS said that total
pledges for 2005 through 2007 are $8.2 billion short of the $14.1 billion
needed, according to the Journal (Wall Street Journal, 3/10).
Estimates Lowered
However, some AIDS advocates said that UNAIDS' current estimate of
funding needed to fight HIV/AIDS from 2005 to 2007 is $6 billion -- or 30%
-- less than its previous estimate, according to a Health GAP release.
UNAIDS' Report of the Global AIDS Epidemic released in advance of the
XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 2004
estimated that $19.9 billion in funding would be needed to fight HIV/AIDS
in developing countries by 2007. According to the release, UNAIDS
reduced its estimate at Wednesday's meeting "without any technical
substantiation." Some AIDS advocates said they believe that the estimate was
lowered "in response to pressure" by donor countries and that some donor
countries might be planning to "downsiz[e]" their contributions based on
the lowered estimate, according to the release. "UNAIDS should not
expect anyone, government or civil society, to agree to technically
unsound, unjustified numbers that are vastly different from preceding
estimates," Asia Russell of Health GAP said (Health GAP release, 3/9). Paul
Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance, said, "It's simply
unheard of for an agency like UNAIDS, an advocate of greater resources
to stop AIDS, to suddenly say less is needed after all, even as the
crisis is escalating." He added, "It's painful to have to question UNAIDS
leadership. But, regretfully, we feel that an independent
investigation is needed into the methodology, assumptions and overall process of
developing the new estimates" (GAA release, 3/9).
Coordination
In addition to gaining enough funding to fight the disease in
developing countries, spending all of the money contributed will be a
"challenging task" because many resource-poor nations do not have the
infrastructure to absorb donations and face "severe shortages" of health
personnel, the Journal reports. Governments, the Global Fund To Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria and independent health groups need to better
coordinate to avoid "overlapping approaches, conflicting ideologies and
varying paperwork requirements that overwhelm the health ministries of
developing countries," according to the Journal. "Lack of good coordination
claims lives," Piot said, adding, "Before there was money, it was only
a theoretical issue" (Wall Street Journal, 3/10). Piot added, "In order
to get ahead of the epidemic, the international community must work
together to scale up the AIDS response. This means maximizing donor
coordination, mobilizing new resources and ensuring that the available funds
for AIDS are spent effectively on the ground" (U.N. News Centre, 3/9).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the sake of the lives of the millions of Africans who die EVERY year from TOTALLY PREVENTABLE CAUSES, please get involved in the Global Call for Action Against Poverty.
http://www.whiteband.org
Thanks to ALL of you who have done whatever you can to help the world's poorest people.