U.S. to Contribute $200 Million Less than it did Last Year by Sabin Russell The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, started three years ago with hopes of raising $10 billion a year to combat disease in the developing world, today finds itself short of its goals and on the defensive with its largest patron, the Bush administration. At a meeting Thursday in Tanzania, Global Fund backers fended off what they contend was a bid by the United States to postpone a new round of grants by the fund in 2005. In an apparent compromise reached at the meeting, the fund's board unanimously approved a plan to provide up to $1 billion for new grants in 2005. The money for the programs would not start flowing until September, three months later than advocates had hoped. It was a victory for those who feared a total cutoff of new funds next year -- yet disappointing for those who had higher expectations for the Global Fund. The organization to date has raised $3 billion in three years, far short of the goal set by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan when he first envisioned the Geneva-based organization. The Bush administration has cited as evidence of its support the fact that U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson is chairman of the fund. But even as Thompson was announcing from Tanzania that new grants would be offered next year, Congress was reducing the amount the United States would allot to the international organization. Two subcommittees responsible for Global Fund contributions are paring next year's appropriation to $350 million, nearly $200 million less than last year's amount... ...The bulk of the Bush administration's overseas spending against the epidemic is currently weighted toward the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- the audacious plan to spend $15 billion over five years first announced in his 2003 State of the Union address. Unlike the Global Fund, which is paid for by many countries and is independently run, the president's program targets 15 countries that have been selected by the United States to receive direct assistance from Washington. Dr. Mark Dybul, chief medical officer for the president's initiative, said the program is on track to bring antiviral drug treatment to 200,000 people in the "focus countries" by June. But critics note that the original plan by the Bush administration called for treating 500,000 by the end of September 2004. In August, the program reported that a total of 24,900 HIV-infected men, women and children were under treatment in nine of the focus countries...[/i]
Given the graft and corruption in the UN Oil for Food program, the decision to fund countries' efforts directly appears to avoid a lot of potential waste of funds. Not enough info here to comment on why there were no more people treated.