Major donor countries neglecting weak and helpless in medical reliefemergencies

Sandra Murillo - Major
donor countries have chosen to undercut the main international funding
mechanism to save the lives of millions of people at risk of dying from
AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, said the international medical
humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without
Borders (MSF) today.

The decision of major donor countries to
massively underfund the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, made
at the Fund’s replenishment conference in New York today, will cost
lives and severely weaken the ability of countries to implement programs
that would reverse the tide of three of the largest infectious killers
worldwide.

Statement from Dr. Jennifer Cohn, MSF HIV/AIDS policy advisor:

“Today
marks a sad turning point in the fight against AIDS, TB, and malaria,
as world leaders have officially underfinanced the Global Fund. This
decision will result in the death of millions of people from otherwise
treatable diseases. Ambitious country programs, which could mean the
difference between life and death, may no longer be feasible. A crisis
plan and additional contributions are now urgently needed in order to
maintain current grants and expand and improve promising treatment and
prevention programs.”

This year, the United States
participated in the Global Fund replenishment for the first time. It has
pledged $4 billion over three years – a disappointing amount given that
the US generally contributes one-third of the Fund’s finances.  The US
has already flatlined funding for the bilateral President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Countries including France, have
increased their contributions to The Fund, albeit modestly. Germany’s
funding levels remained the same.

Malawi is one example of what
is at stake.  The Malawian government recently submitted a Global Fund
application for a program that would dramatically reduce the
transmission of HIV from pregnant women to their children. The program,
which could reduce the rate of mother-to-child infections down from 35
percent to as low as two percent, may no longer be possible. Similarly,
efforts in Kenya and South Africa to provide treatment to all who
require it will be made nearly impossible without a well-financed Global
Fund.

The Global Fund replenishment conference is estimated to
fall far short of the $20 billion needed to expand programs, and even
short of the $13 billion needed just to keep existing programs running.

The
Global Fund estimates that if its target of $20 billion over three
years were achieved, 7.5 million people would receive antiretroviral
therapy, up from 2.5 million at the end of 2009. In its estimates, the
Global Fund did not take into account the additional cost of
international plans to expand diagnosis and treatment of drug resistant
tuberculosis, or the cost of implementing new WHO treatment guidelines
which call for improved first-line HIV medicines and starting patients
on treatment earlier.

 “Today’s failure by global leaders is
particularly shameful because it comes just weeks after the Millennium
Development Goals Summit, when they reaffirmed their commitments to
global health,” said Dr. Cohn.

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Sandra Murillo writes on behalf of Doctors Without Borders