ONE members, we have our Global Fund work cut out for us

Oct 13th, 2010 1:56 PM UTC
By Todd Summers

After months of campaigning from ONE members around the world, and after a two-day pledging conference in New York, the dust has finally settled on the Global Fund’s third replenishment.

From left to right: Mr. Richard Manning, Replenishment Vice-Chair; UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Prof. Kazatchkine, Global Fund Executive Director; Dr. Debrework Zewdie, Global Fund Deputy Executive Director at the Third Voluntary Replenishment Meeting, 5 October 2010. © The Global Fund / John Rae

By the end of the meeting, donors had come forward with pledges totaling $9.2 billion, and the Global Fund’s secretariat anticipated that another $2.5 billion would come in from donors unable to make commitments at the meeting, bringing the total for the replenishment to $11.7 billion over the next three years.

This number falls below the $13, $17 and $20 billion scenarios the Global Fund had outlined back in March (to account for the cost of continuing grants and the scale up of new programs), and reflects — as we anticipated — a challenging tension between growing demand from countries and a dwindling supply of energy and resources from donors. Here’s a video report and press conference webcast of the results.

On the whole, we are disappointed in the global effort. As you know, we had campaigned in the U.S. and Europe for the Global Fund’s replenishment because it is a proven mechanism capable of helping to deliver two major health goals by 2015: the virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and the end of malaria deaths. Now, we certainly have our work cut out for us to secure additional resources if we hope to remain on track toward achieving those goals.

Take a look at the full list of countries’ pledges (PDF). Some were notable exceptions on both sides of the fence:

France, which increased its contributions by 20 percent over the last replenishment, is now pledging at a level nearly double of its “fair share” as based on GNI for the $13 billion scenario.

The U.S. failed to come close to our target of $6 billion, though it joined other countries in making its first-ever multi-year commitment and increased its contribution by 38 percent in comparison to the last replenishment. It also signaled a new commitment to helping the Global Fund work better at country level, which in and of itself is a big deal. We blogged on the U.S. pledge earlier — check it out.

The European Commission increased its contributions by 10 percent. This monetary increase was relatively small, but it is highly unusual for it to earmark funds for the Global Fund in this way, so it represented a victory for our work.

China remains a net recipient of GF funding, and although it increased its contributions back into the GF, it is only contributing 19 percent of its “fair share” based on GNI.

Italy, which already defaulted on its 2009 pledge to the Global Fund, was highly disappointing and did not contribute again.

The Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain all also pledged nothing, and the UK is still awaiting the completion of a multilateral aid review before it can pledge.

This is therefore just a starting point for us. We’ll be working with you over the coming months to keep the pressure on governments — encouraging those that have stepped up their pledges to translate them into contributions, and engaging those that fell short or didn’t participate at all. In many of the countries in which we work, there is real opportunity to push ahead and attain increased pledges over the next three years, so we should be optimistic that we can indeed do better even while we recognize that the road ahead will be tough.

On a personal note, our staff has been overwhelmed by ONE’s vast family of members and organizers who have rallied around the Global Fund. You’ve signed petitions, stood in line at the “Today” Show at 5 AM in ONE T-shirts, talked to politicians about the Global Fund, held Lazarus Effect screenings, called the White House and even tweeted. It’s been great work, and you all should be proud of the role you played in securing billions of dollars for the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria. Now take a deep breath, dig in, and get ready to keep up the pressure!

TAGS: Global Fund, ONE, Policy News