Global Fund Seeks Ways to Better Respond to Humanitarian Emergencies

Author:

David Garmaise

Article Type:

Article Number: 6

ABSTRACT The Global Fund should be more effective in responding to humanitarian emergencies, according to the Board’s Portfolio and Implementation Committee. One way of doing that would be to ensure that populations affected by humanitarian emergencies are better represented on country coordinating mechanisms (CCMs) and on the Global Fund Board.

Populations affected by humanitarian emergencies should be better represented on country coordinating mechanisms (CCMs) and on the Global Fund Board. This is one of the observations of the board’s Portfolio and Implementation Committee (PIC), which has been discussing ways to make the Global Fund more effective in responding to such emergencies.

In its discussions, the PIC distinguished between acute and protracted emergencies. For acute emergencies, the PIC suggested that the Global Fund Secretariat explore opportunities to re-programme existing grants; and explore the feasibility of establishing a special emergency fund, or similar mechanism.

For protracted emergencies, the PIC suggested that populations affected by these emergencies be included in the definition of “key populations”; that proposal guidelines emphasise the need to include these populations in proposals, where appropriate; and that affected countries explore the possibility of submitting regional proposals.

The PIC said that given the significant public health needs of these countries, and the often challenging administrative and management environment, the secretariat should take a more focused and strategic approach to strengthening grant performance in countries with humanitarian emergencies.

Information for this article was taken from the “Report of the Portfolio and Implementation Committee,” December 2010, Document GF/B22/5, which should be available shortly at www.theglobalfund.org/en/board/meetings/twentysecond/documents.