BackUN triples funding to fight AIDS, TB and malaria
UN triples funding to fight AIDS, TB and malaria
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United Nations: The United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria is to triple its spending by 2010 in order to meet demand, particularly in developing nations.
“The board’s vision of tripling or even quadrupling the size of the Global Fund is a strong vote of confidence for our work. Programmes supported by us are currently saving 3,000 lives per day," said the Executive Director of the fund, Michel Kazatchkine.
The fund aims to keep up with the increasing demand for its financing around the world, especially in developing countries.
At a meeting in Geneva over the weekend, the fund’s board noted that the sum between $6- 8bn (Rs25,200 to 33.600 crore) each year would be sought from 2008 to 2010, depending on the level of demand in the world’s poorest countries.
Kazatchkine called the new projected spending “an inspiring challenge" to both donors and the people who work on fund-backed projects in more than 130 nations. He added that the increase in funding would allow the world to do much as they inch closer to reach G-8 and UN goals.
“We have recognized that raising $6-8 bn per year requires substantially increased contributions, hence the board has called on all stakeholders to play their part to mobilize the extra funding," he said.
In this regard, donors will meet in Berlin in September to secure initial funding pledges for the 2008-2010 period. The fund was set up in 2002 at the initiative of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
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