President Bush claims to have tripled US aid to Africa, yet he has set the Global Fund on a course to disaster. While promising to back the Fund, the cut he has proposed to the US contribution to the Fund could lead to a massive reduction in HIV/AIDS prevention and care for orphans.
"Zambia, Ethiopia, and other countries have made real strides in HIV prevention," said Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. "But, if the President's cut is approved we could lose significant ground. It would also be devastating to efforts where the virus is rapidly expanding, such as in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Asia."
Last week, $100 million was cut from the US contribution. The cut was made by the Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee, headed by Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH).
Later this week, the lead decision-maker on the Fund in Congress, Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), along with his colleagues, will set the US contribution to the Fund for 2006. It is unclear whether he will approve the total Bush request ($300 million, a 30% reduction from FY 2005), provide the US share of the cost of renewing expiring grants ($600 million), or provide the contribution requested by the Fund ($1.2 billion).
With the cut President Bush has proposed, and if other countries were unable or unwilling to make up for the shortfall, the Global Fund would be forced to carry out what the Fund's Director, Richard Feachem, recently called "triage." This would involve preserving grants that are saving lives immediately, such as AIDS treatment, while cutting back on other programs.
Besides AIDS treatment, the Fund is supporting many well-performing blood safety programs, voluntary counseling and testing programs, programs that provide comprehensive information about sexual transmission, and programs that prevent transmission of the HIV virus from mother to child.
The triage would also lead to postponing the next round of additional grantmaking, known as Round Five. 500,000 people typically receive AIDS treatment as a result of a round of Global Fund grantmaking, yet if their treatment is postponed they could die.
Critically-needed programs whose grants would be allowed to expire, without renewal, could include the following: