Underfunding the Global Fund: a crisis for the Global Fund or a crisis for everyone?

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance released a briefing paper earlier this month called Don’t stop now: How underfunding the Global Fund impacts on the HIV response which addresses the impact of the underfunding of the Global Fund. With Round 11 of the Global Fund cancelled and new grants postponed to 2014 there is no capacity to increase the coverage of HIV responses.

… the scale-up of the worldwide HIV response will be seriously affected and important existing services will be reduced or eliminated in the absence of urgent measures. If the global community is to prevent this enormous setback threatening the health and lives of millions of people – and realise the numerous commitments made by United Nations member states through the Millennium Development Goals and at the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS – then swift and decisive action is imperative.

The report, therefore, calls with great urgency upon donors and national governments to respond to the funding crisis, in the following three ways:

1. Donors must honour existing pledges and increase investment to provide the Global Fund with financing (approximately $2 billion) for a new funding opportunity in 2012.
2. National governments must increase investment in their own HIV responses and in the implementation of national AIDS strategies that reflect the epidemiology in their countries.
3. Bilateral donors must take immediate steps to fill critical HIV service gaps that will not be covered by existing funding mechanisms.