Financing the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria

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Last week saw some positive announcements in global health financing. At a meeting in Berlin, Germany, donor countries pledged US$9·7 million over the next 3 years to replenish the coffers of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. (PRODUCT) RED announced that it had raised US$45 million for the fund since its launch in 2006. And, Germany and Indonesia became the first countries to take part in the Global Fund's new debt-conversion initiative, Debt2Health. Germany has agreed to cancel €50 million of Indonesia's debt if it spends half of this money on domestic Global Fund programmes. Debt2Health is a welcome addition to the growing number of innovative financing mechanisms—such as UNITAID, which mobilises airline tax-revenues to purchase drugs for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. But such initiatives will not be enough on their own. On Sept 26, UNAIDS released a report calling for international donors to quadruple their 2007 spending on HIV/AIDS to meet the goal of providing universal access to treatment, care, and prevention programmes by 2010. Under current spending levels, which total around $10 billion a year, only two-thirds of the people in need of antiretrovirals would receive them by the target deadline. An increase in spending to $42 billion by 2010 would meet the goal of universal access, according to UNAIDS. However, the likelihood that donor countries will stump up this extra cash is in doubt when some are already shirking their existing funding responsibilities. At their meeting in Heiligendamm in June, the G8 countries promised to treble the size of the Global Fund by 2010. Honouring this commitment should have seen UK donations to the fund increase to £700 million over the next 3 years. Yet, last week, the UK promised the Global Fund only £360 million for 2008–10. It is clear that the costs of dealing with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria will be considerable. Donor countries must fulfil their international obligations, and not only initiate innovative financing mechanisms but also honour their existing financial commitments to these diseases. Department of ErrorThe Lancet. Financing the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Lancet 2007; 370: 1190—In this Editorial (Oct 6), the second sentence should have read: “At a meeting in Berlin, Germany, donor countries pledged US$9·7 billion over the next 3 years.…” Full-Text PDF