GLOBAL FUND REPORTS SIGNIFICANT RISE IN PEOPLE RECEIVING SERVICES

Author:

Bernard Rivers

Article Number: 2

ABSTRACT The Global Fund says that more than 4.9 million lives have been saved by programmes supported by the Fund, and that 3,600 deaths are averted each day.

By 30 November 2009, programmes supported by the Global Fund were providing antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to 2.5 million people living with HIV, an increase of 25% compared to 2008. Global Fund-supported programmes were also providing directly observational therapy short course (DOTS) to 6.0 million people with TB, an increase of 30%; and had distributed 104 million insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets, an increase of 49%.

As a result, the Global Fund says, more than 4.9 million lives have been saved. Each day, 3,600 deaths are averted.

This information was revealed in a news release issued yesterday by the Global Fund for World AIDS Day. The news release is available at www.theglobalfund.org/en/pressreleases.

In 2009 alone, 34 million bed nets have been distributed to families to protect them against malaria. The Global Fund says that 2010 will see considerably larger distributions of bed nets, “as the world prepares to reach a target of providing a bed net to every family who needs one by 2011.”

Since the Global Fund started in 2002, programmes supported by the Fund have provided 790,000 pregnant women with a complete course of antiretrovirals to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to their children. In addition, 4.5 million AIDS orphans and vulnerable children have received basic care and support; 105 million sessions of HIV counselling and testing have been provided; 138 million people have been reached with community outreach prevention for one or more of the three diseases; 1.8 billion condoms have been distributed; and 11.3 million health or community workers have been trained to deliver services.

With $9.3 billion disbursed thus far through more than 500 grants, the Global Fund currently provides nearly a quarter of all international financing for AIDS globally, as well as three-fifths of all international financing for both TB and malaria.

These figures combine data from individual programmes supported by the Global Fund in 140 countries.

In his report at the Fund’s recent Board meeting, Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund, said that as of mid-2009, the Global Fund was supporting, on average, around half of the people receiving antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds of those in north Africa and the Middle East, around two thirds of those in Asia, and more than 70% of those in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Dr. Kazatchkine said that the Global Fund is now working closely with UN agencies to accelerate the

Scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs and extend coverage to at least 60 per cent of women in need globally over the next 18 months. This includes a concerted effort to re-programme existing Global Fund resources so that within 18 months at least 80 per cent of PMTCT programmes supported through Global Fund grants will be using the most efficacious ARV regimens.

Dr. Kazatchkine said that by the time Round 8 grants begin to show results, between 2010 and 2011, the Secretariat estimates that the Global Fund will be financing almost all the provision of insecticide-treated nets in sub-Saharan Africa, around half of TB case detection globally and around a third of those on ARV treatment globally.

Note: As indicated above, these accomplishments are attributable to programmes that the Global Fund has supported. This does not mean that the Global Fund alone can take credit for this; many of these programmes have also been supported by national governments and other donors.

The“Report of the Executive Director” is available at www.theglobalfund.org/en/board/meetings/twentieth/documents.