Government Urged to Bolster AIDS Funding
27 January 2012 at 3:14 pm
The Federal Government is being urged not to turn its back on funding to fight HIV and to bring forward its financial commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Australian Not for Profit organisations, The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) and RESULTS International, have called on the Government to bolster funding and bring it forward, or risk jeopardising crucial advances in HIV treatment and prevention.
They say The Global Fund – which has its headquarters in Geneva – was forced to freeze any new or expanded programs in November last year when a number of donor nations failed to meet their commitments.
RESULTS National Manager, Maree Nutt, said that now is not the time to scale back efforts.
“A decade after the Fund’s creation we have made real progress towards bringing an end to the world’s three most deadly infectious diseases. The tragic irony is that just as there is real hope to end disease; donors are forcing the Global Fund to stall in its progress," Nutt said.
The Global Fund is an international financing organisation that aims to attract and disburse resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
The joint letter from AFAO and RESULTS urges the Government to both bring forward its 2011 – 2013 funding commitment of $170 million, while also committing to an initial one off funding top up.
AFAO executive director, Rob Lake, said: "In 2011, all United Nations members adopted a target of a 50% reduction in HIV transmission and 50% of people with HIV being on treatments by 2015. Without the Global Fund, this target is impossible."
“The disconnect between what can be done, and the resources being made available to get it done is painful. Winning the war against AIDS could be our greatest achievement this century," Lake said.
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