Press Statement

Geneva 03 May 2010—UNAIDS commends the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Board’s decision to launch its next round of grants in mid-May of this year. This will allow countries to continue their momentum towards achieving the universal access targets. Particularly, during these difficult financial times, the launch of Round 10 shows that the global community is committed to making important investments in the AIDS response.

“AIDS is not over in any part of the world,” said Mr Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “It is imperative that we keep resources flowing to people and communities struggling daily with the impact of HIV.”

UNAIDS also welcomes the decision of the Board to continue financing proposals addressing the needs of most-at-risk populations. Sex workers, injecting drug users, men who have sex with men and other key marginalized populations are often ignored by funding mechanisms. Setting aside resources for the most vulnerable people will ensure that communities can rapidly scale-up their AIDS response and meet the goal of zero new HIV infections.

This Board decision will allow upper-middle-income and lower-middle-income countries, which often have concentrated epidemics among populations at higher risk, to access these resources. While the special window of funding currently is only for Round 10, it is important that the international community and countries continue to invest in areas that demonstrate results and have an impact on the epidemic.

“I am glad the Global Fund Board has approved this new reserve. Funding decisions for HIV should have a human face,” said Mr Sidibé. “Resources must go to the communities that need them most and should not be based on economic indicators alone.”

With proper funding, new HIV infections in vulnerable populations can be prevented. By introducing needle exchange and drug replacement programmes many developed countries have been able to virtually eliminate transmission of HIV among injecting drug users. Similar investments in developing countries can achieve similar results.

UNAIDS will continue to provide technical assistance to countries, civil society organizations and the Global Fund to ensure that evidence-informed proposals are submitted for funding and produce results for people.