February 2006:

The Global Fund: Progress to Date and Challenges for 2006

APPG AIDS’ meeting with the Global Fund

Professor Feachem spoke about the deficit for the coming funding round for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. He also introduced the Red Campaign and spoke about how this and other new initiatives to fundraise are increasingly becoming more important as existing donors have not committed to fully fund the new round.

Q&A Session:

Questions asked to Professor Feachem following his presentation:

Jeremy Hunt MP:

Q:        Why is the Global Fund, with its stretched resources, based in one of the world’s most expensive cities, and why is the secretariat budget so high?

A:        In 2006 the budget for the secretariat is calculated to $62 million. The people who work for the Global Fund are employed through the WHO and are salaried according to their pay-scales; however the lion share of the secretarial expenditure is spent on:

-          actually doing the work;

-          fees to the world bank for managing our funds;

-          fees to the WHO (admin);

-          a large travel budget;

-          cost of governance;

We should probably not be in Geneva. In 2001 when the Global Fund was set up there were a number of places that were considered apart from Geneva (Paris, Brussels and South Africa). The value of being in Geneva outweighs the cost as we need to be close to our partners UNAIDS and to the WHO.

Jeremy Hunt MP:

Q:        How far do you estimate that we will get in terms of Access to Universal Treatment and do you think it is a good idea to work towards the 2010 target through interim targets?

A:        The number of people who receive treatment go up significantly every time there is a new Global Funding round, however all the donations, all the different programs and all the big bi-lateral donors-contributions need to be greatly increased to reach the target. So is the 2010 Universal Access target unreasonable and unreachable? No it is a good target and we must strive to meet them. I think that interim targets are a good idea.

Dr. Alice Welbourn: International Community of Women living with HIV/AIDS

Q:        As you know women and girls are disproportionably affected by HIV/AIDS. I noticed that in your presentation slides that there is no data and no breakdown on gender issues and none for urban/rural demands and uneven distribution of drugs.

A:        We have no breakdown here because we have no information on gender issues – as a funding mechanism we do not monitor such issues.

(Edwige Fortier :)

A:        The indicators that the Global Fund as a financing mechanism can monitor do not encompass such specific data. However in the Global Fund proposal itself, the guidelines encourage countries to detail how they will address issues of gender inequity in their programs. So we are looking at that sort of information at the proposal submission level. In addition, I have met with several of the civil society members of CCMs in the regions where we work, and many of those individuals have been women. They are present and they are engaged in Global Fund processes. What is important however is that we ensure that not just women are at the table in the decision-making process but that all individuals living with and affected by the three diseases are represented and also put in a position to fully contribute on CCMs goals at country-level.

Susie Mclean International HIV/AIDS Alliance:

Q:        Project RED’s money is earmarked for AIDS in Africa. This is not concurrent with the Global Fund’s policy on not earmarking money for specific purposes. Are you not worried that Government’s will start demanding their money to go to specific project or areas?

A:        Most of the money that we receive comes from Governments who cannot ask for their money to be earmarked and they are made very well aware of this. With corporations however we have a hard time incorporating them without targeting the money. 

Based on the potentially significant contribution of funds through the RED project we decided that it was reasonable to wave our policy on earmarking in this instance. We are not worried that Governments will try to exert the same demands as we are already dealing with them under other premises. In defending the targeting of AIDS and Africa it is simply the case that extra money for that cause frees up money for TB and Malaria and for AIDS in other areas.

Q:        Does the French Government’s decision on airport/ airline tax hold any hope?

A:        I think it looks like a good proposal and I am hoping that something will come out of it.

Martin Flynn, Positive Nation

Q:        What assurances can you give this meeting and donors that the Global Fund money is not going into corruption?

A:        The Global Fund employs three elements to minimise corruption:

1. Transparency: every spending report is on our website and the money shall be easy to track through those reports.
2. Local Fund Agents: we have eyes and ears in all the countries where we operate.
3. Performance based funding: if a target is no where near being met we will investigate why – if we find there is a case of corruption the funding will be suspended.

The Global Fund is not connected to the UN and operating autonomously ensures that there is never any outside pressure on us to turn a blind eye to corruption.

Belinda Atim Positively Women/ ICW/AGI

Q:        Are you financing Microbicide initiatives?

A:        We are not directly financing research into product development; however we are financing a lot of prevention work. The projects that we fund produce a lot of purchase power and money is channelled into product development that way,

Q:        The incidence of HIV/AIDS is very high in Northern Uganda. Do you finance projects there?

A:        I will hand that question over to the expert on that region.

(Dr. Victor Bampoe):

A:        The war-torn part of Uganda presents a huge problem. The Global Fund initiatives are country driven so this is a matter for the country’s Government. However we know that MSF and other organisations are working in these regions.

Naina Dhingra Advocates for Youth

Q:        Can you tell us a little about the EARS

A:        EARS (The Early Alert and Response System) has been developed into an essential part of grant support and performance management. EARS has been developed through consultation with countries, with grant recipients at regional meetings and with partners. EARS is a support mechanism designed to promote early identification of challenges to implementation by facilitating the systematic sharing if information on grant progress within and outside the Secretariat.

Fionnuala Murphy: Student Partnership Worldwide

Q:        The 2010 target will be difficult to meet and more so in certain countries than others. What can we as campaigners do to step up our work and maintain momentum?

A:        Keep the campaigns simple, focused and stay mad and dedicated. Let’s stay on campaigns that we have started instead of investing in new initiatives which pop up frequently and attract attention away from working programmes.

Will Horwitz: Stop AIDS Campaign Cambridge University

Q:        GAP and Nike have very bad reputations for exploiting people, how do you reconcile this with getting them involved in the RED campaign and profiting on their brands?

A:        The question we have to ask here is do we mean that we want to tackle HIV/AIDS or not and reach the 2010 target or not? We are trying very hard to reach the level of funds needed to fulfil the goal. GAP and Nike are buying into a very noticeable campaign which automatically will mean that they are under scrutiny from everyone involved and from consumers.