Global Fund to fight AIDS, malaria and TB reports progress in reaching targets

Grant recipients under the Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria, an initiative of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, have reached an average of 80 per cent of the goals they set for a one-year period, according to a new partial review of the effort.

Averaging the results of the 25 programmes examined "hides some substantial over-achievers, such as Honduras, which put nearly twice as many people on antiretroviral (HIV/AIDS) treatment as planned, and Madagascar, which had distributed well over double the number of insecticide-impregnated bed nets it had planned," the Fund report, called "A Force for Change: The Global Fund at 30 Months," says.

The analysis covers the period from 1 May 2003 to 30 April 2004 and finds that 12 programmes were on target or doing better than expected, eight were slightly behind schedule and eight were seriously lagging. Another 271 programmes were not reviewed.

The report emphasizes that more technical assistance should be made available to deal with problems.

The 25 grants in 15 countries reached 2.3 million people with such interventions as testing, treatment and care, while 340,000 people were trained in treatment delivery, it says.

Some 5,200 people received anti-retroviral therapy under four programmes, while 45,000 people were successfully cured of TB, according to the report. Nearly 350,000 bed nets to prevent mosquito-borne malaria were distributed in three programmes.

Measuring the performance of the year-old grants from the first round of financing is part of an effort to set standards for all Global Fund grants. Only those programmes which perform well in the first two years will receive funding for the remaining period of the grant, usually another three years.

The Geneva-based Global Fund is an independent private foundation under Swiss law, governed by an international Board. Created in answer to an appeal by Mr. Annan in April 2001, it collects, manages and disburses special funds through a new public-private partnership.