Global Fund Awards $866 Million in Grants to
Fights AIDS, TB and Malaria
'At the close of its fourth Board meeting, financial
statements made clear that Global Fund lacks the resources to approve a
third round of grants in October 2003. At least US$ 6.3 billion in
additional total contributions are needed over the next two years'
( Global Fund )
�
See also this Guardian coverage, this
AP article, and this
blog entry from July
�
On Tuesday George W Bush announced in the State
of the Union Address that he wanted
Congress to vote $15 billion for AIDS
relief in Africa and the Caribbean. It's doubtful his motives are pure,
however.
Only $1 billion of that is earmarked for the Global Fund, which public
health officials and activists consider the most effective mechanism for
helping poor countries fight AIDS. The rest will go to US-controlled
programmes. And yesterday the Global Fund, its coffers depleted,
announced that the US Secretary of
Health would take over as chairman of its board.
Bearing in mind that the Bush administration has consistently hampered
AIDS relief efforts by preventing the production of generic
anti-retroviral drugs and blocking funding to international programmes
that distribute condoms, it appears the USG is now simply consolidating
control of those efforts. It will then be better able to manipulate
relief funds as leverage over governments in the developing world, in the
same manner that it already uses the
IMF, World
Bank and World Food Programme
LINKS?
http://www.hullocentral.demon.co.uk/site/anfin.htm
