New Funding for Russian HIV Grant Will Sustain Prevention Services for Most-at-Risk Populations

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Download PDF The $2.5 million in interim applicant funding for the Russian Federation (see GFO article) will be used to extend an existing HIV grant, RUS-304-G01-H, for 12 more months through to 21 December 2014. The principal recipient (PR) is the Open Health Institute. The grant is currently being implemented with funding from the Transitional Funding Mechanism (TFM). The grant…

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Article Number: 5

ABSTRACT The Open Health Institute, principal recipient for an HIV grant in the Russian Federation, will use the $2.5 million in interim applicant funding, recently awarded, to extend prevention services for most-at-risk populations until 31 December 2014.

The $2.5 million in interim applicant funding for the Russian Federation (see GFO article) will be used to extend an existing HIV grant, RUS-304-G01-H, for 12 more months through to 21 December 2014. The principal recipient (PR) is the Open Health Institute.

The grant is currently being implemented with funding from the Transitional Funding Mechanism (TFM). The grant originated from a non-CCM proposal in Round 3. The TFM funding, announced in 2012, was intended to ensure that essential prevention services for key affected populations would not be disrupted.

The $2.5 million investment under the new funding model will sustain HIV prevention interventions for 11,000 people who inject drugs in 16 cities and regions of the Russian Federation; 6,600 sex workers in seven regions; 5,000 men who have sex with men in seven regions; and 4,830 prisoners in seven regions.

The Russian Federation has a complicated history with the Global Fund. In the past, grants for HIV and TB emanating from CCM proposals have been funded. However, in October 2010, the government announced that the Russian Federation no longer wanted to receive Global Fund money. The government said that the country’s economy had improved to the point where the Russian Federation could become a donor to the Global Fund instead of a recipient (see GFO commentary).

At the time, the Global Fund was getting ready to negotiate a TB grant. Approval for this grant was eventually rescinded. Meanwhile, in July 2013, the World Bank reclassified the Russian Federation as a high income country (see GFO article), which means the country will not be eligible to submit proposals starting in 2014 (under current eligibility rules).

However, for now at least, the Global Fund continues to fund grants emanating from non-CCM proposals, as the award of $2.5 million for grant RUS-304-G01-H attests. Just last month, the Global Fund approved another $2.5 million in interim applicant funding for another HIV grant, RUS-506-G05-H, for which the PR is the Russian Harm Reduction Network (see GFO article). This grant also emanated from a non-CCM proposal.

Finally, both the Open Health Institute grant and the Russian Harm Reduction Network grant received funding from the Global Fund in 2012 under a bridge funding arrangement adopted by the Board in November 2011 to avoid gaps in service provision caused by the cancellation of Round 11.

Some of the information for this article was taken from Board Decision GF-B29-EDP9 and from GF-B29-ER5, the Report of Secretariat Funding Recommendations. These documents are not available on the Global Fund website.