UK government disappoints on first test of AIDS commitment
26 September 2007
The Alliance expressed extreme disappointment at the announcement made by the UK government on 25 September that it would not be honouring the commitments made at the G8 in June 2007 to treble the size of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by 2010 to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Honouring the commitment would have seen UK funding to the Global Fund increase to £700m over the next three years. Instead the UK government will be increasing funding by just 5% per year over the next three years, to £360m for the period 2008- 2010.
The government’s announcement comes the day before the start of the Global Fund’s replenishment meeting, taking place from 26-28 September in Berlin, Germany. The meeting is seen as the first real test of the G8 commitments and the first real indication of Gordon Brown’s ongoing commitment to tackling the global AIDS epidemic.
“It is a real disappointment that the UK government didn’t use this opportunity in the run up to the Global Fund replenishment conference this week to make its leadership on AIDS clear,” said. Alvaro Bermejo, Alliance Executive Director. “While the Global Fund is not the only way to fund the AIDS response, this was the first test of the Brown government’s ongoing commitment to tackle the AIDS epidemic. If the government wants to continue to be seen as a leader in the global AIDS response, it needs to show how it is going to honour its promises to fund universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010 in other ways.”
Javier Hourcade Bellocq, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance’s regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean and alternate board member for the Communities living with HIV, Tuberculosis and affected by Malaria delegation to the Global Fund Board said “1.1 million people living with HIV and 2.8 million people living with tuberculosis are now alive instead of barely surviving or dying, thanks to the contribution of the Global Fund to rapidly scale up access to HIV and TB treatment. But we know how many people urgently need to get on the same treatment. We know the needs, and we know the money is there. The donor community should sustain and increase their commitments. It’s about the moral and ethical obligation of those better positioned in the world to provide the means to those most in need.”
Marco Gomes, member of the Communities Delegation to the Global Fund board added, “The Global Fund works but it cannot succeed without donors’ assistance. It is up to the donors to get us there. Anything else is an admission of failure on the Millennium Developments Goals.”
