sexta-feira, fevereiro 18, 2005

Petição Europa e o Fundo Global



Dear Friends,

Please find below a paper calling on the European Union (EU) to demonstrate its commitment and leadership to fully funding the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria by continuing to provide at least half of the Global Fund’s needs in the short term, and to press other countries to increase their contributions. We are currently collecting signatures for this effort – which was initiated by various NGOs (including the ones mentioned below). The paper will be sent to the EU ministers of finance before their 8 March ECOFIN meeting and to the EU ministers of development before the “Three Ones” meeting (London, 9 March) and the first Global Fund replenishment meeting (Stockholm, 14-16 March).

We kindly ask you to do the following:

1. ADD YOUR ORGANISATION’S SIGNATURE – If you are supportive of this call and want to add your organisation’s signature to it, please send the name of your organisation (as you want it to be shown) and the name and details of the relevant contact person in your organisation to Siobhan McKenna (44-20-70310200; siobhan.mckenna@osf-eu.org). The deadline is Thursday 24 February.

2. FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO OTHER EU-BASED NGOs – Please forward this message to other EU-based NGOs interested in resource mobilisation for the fights against AIDS, TB and malaria.

Thus far, the following organisations have already indicated that they want to sign this call for action:

• ActionAid International [or] ActionAid (Italy) and ActionAid (UK)
• AIDES (France)
• DATA (Debt, Aid and Trade for Africa)
• European AIDS Treatment Group
• Open Society Institute
• RED 2002 – Spanish Network of AIDS NGOs
• RESULTS UK
• World AIDS Campaign

• GAT

Once we have collected all signatures (deadline Thursday 24 February), we will send you the final paper – with the list of all organisations supporting this call for European leadership. You can use this for your own advocacy efforts.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Siobhan McKenna


Scaling Up – Keep the Promise

Urgent Call for Increased European Support for the Global Fund

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a critical mechanism in international efforts to eradicate disease and poverty. The Global Fund must have solid financial support to allow it to continue to effectively contribute to the fight against these three deadly diseases.

We call on the European Union (EU) to demonstrate its commitment and leadership to fully funding the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria by continuing to provide at least half of the Global Fund’s needs in the short term, and to press other countries to increase their contributions. We urge the EU to cover $1.4 billion of the Fund’s needs in 2005; and $1.9 billion annually from 2006 onwards.


The urgency of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria

HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria are ravaging the lives of tens of millions across the world. The three diseases kill more than 6 million people each year and shatter the lives of millions more. Not only do they constitute an enormous health challenge; they also threaten efforts to raise living standards and eradicate poverty, and jeopardise peace and stability in many of the worst affected countries. Failure to address them will not only result in falling short of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria by 2015, but it will also undermine efforts to achieve all the other MDGs.

A comprehensive response to these diseases is needed. This requires predictability of funding levels, long-term financial commitments and frontloading of resources. Investments in effective prevention, treatment and research in 2005 and 2006 will save millions of lives, lessen the socio-economic impact of the diseases on low- and middle-income countries, and remove the need for increased spending on these chronic crises in the future.

The opportunity

The year 2005 presents the international community with a unique opportunity to address its current failure to allocate sufficient resources to meet the global development challenges that keep so many of the world’s people in abject poverty. Already, discussions about firm timetables for increasing Official Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.7 percent of GDP, more debt relief, trade reform, and innovative ways to address international development – such as the proposed International Finance Facility – are moving in the right direction.

While these broader developments are positive, some of the immediate and urgent challenges might however be forgotten – including the financial crises confronting the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and other international initiatives such as WHO’s 3 by 5. Successfully dealing with these challenges will require European leadership at a series of key events in 2005 ranging from the G8 and the interim MDG review to the WTO ministerial meeting and the Global Fund replenishment conferences. By providing such leadership – and putting its money where its mouth is – European countries and the European Commission can make 2005 a decisive year in the global fight against poverty and disease.

The role of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria

There are a number of different bilateral and multilateral funding mechanisms that are making valuable contributions to the fight against the three diseases. The Global Fund has an important position in this funding environment, providing approximately 55 percent of all current external funds in the fight against TB; 40 percent in the fight against malaria; and 20-25 percent of all external support to combat HIV/AIDS.

The Global Fund is unique in the way it aims to deliver assistance. It is driven by real needs on the ground; projects are designed and implemented by recipients themselves – both governmental and non-governmental; its procedures and operations are participatory, transparent and accountable; it offers an opportunity for public-private partnership; and the Global Fund has proven to be flexible and responsive, while maintaining only a limited bureaucracy. As with all new organisations there have been initial operational problems, but these are being addressed by re-evaluation and modification of procedures.

Since becoming operational in 2002, the Global Fund has built up an impressive track record. Grants totalling $3.1 billion across 128 countries had been approved and $861 million disbursed by December 2004. Yet, the Global Fund is at a critical juncture. It will need at least $2.3-2.5 billion in 2005; approximately $3.5 billion in 2006; and from 2007 onwards some $3-4 billion annually to continue to contribute effectively to the international fight against the three diseases.
[1]

The US has committed to provide one-third of the Global Fund’s funding, dependent on the rest of the world committing the other two-thirds. Last year, Europe provided just over half of the Global Fund’s needs. There was, however, not enough money committed by the rest of the world to release the full contribution that the US was prepared to make. This is a result of limited commitment by most donor countries outside of the EU and the US to funding multi-sectoral responses to the three diseases such as the Global Fund. In the short term, given the self-imposed constraints on the US, there is an urgent need for Europe to continue filling this funding gap while emergency outreach efforts are made to mobilise the necessary political will in other donor countries.

Our call: European leadership for the Global Fund

We believe that the Global Fund is a critical mechanism that must have solid financial support on the scale needed. We call on the European Union (EU) to demonstrate its commitment and leadership by continuing to provide at least half of the Global Fund’s needs in the short-term, and to press other countries to increase their contributions.

Providing 55 percent of the Global Fund’s needs, as the EU did in 2004, means contributing $1.4 billion in 2005 and $1.9 billion annually from 2006 onwards.

By providing this kind of leadership, Europe will:

- Immediately leverage additional funding from the US;
- Help reduce future funding needs by providing sufficient funds now;
- Ensure that infected people’s treatment is not disrupted due to funding shortages;
- Allow the Global Fund to launch additional much-needed programmes;
- Give all affected low- and middle- income countries access to effective and efficient aid;
- Contribute to much talked-about donor harmonization efforts;
- Support an effective and transparent multilateral funding mechanism;
- Hasten its achievement of its commitment to increase ODA to 0.7 percent; and
- Demonstrate Europe’s strong moral commitment to fighting these diseases.

European leadership is imperative to win the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.

(List of signatories)

February 2005

For more information or comments, please contact Siobhan McKenna at the Open Society Foundation (44-20-70310200; siobhan.mckenna@osf-eu.org).


[1] These amounts are based on two different sets of calculations, which result in similar figures: (a) calculations based on the current Global Fund business model; i.e., adding up the costs in a specific year of the renewal (phase 2) of grants started in 2002-2004 and the costs of financing a new $1 billion round of grants annually; and (b) calculations based on the total international cost to fight the three diseases (as estimated by UNAIDS, Stop TB and Roll Back Malaria) and the current share that the Global Fund plays in each of those three battles. For example, the amount of external funding needed to fight TB is estimated at $1.1 billion in 2007 and the Global Fund’s current share in external financing for TB is 55 percent.

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