The Global Fund, hailed as a major step in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria when it was launched last year, has been overwhelmed with applications from developing countries.
A key project of United Nations' secretary general Kofi Annan, the fund has received pledges from developed countries and private donors to the value of $1.92bn (£1.35bn; €2.20bn), of which $700-800m will be disbursed this year and the rest in 2003.
But developing countries are asking for $1.15bn—much more than is available for 2002.
Melanie Zipperer, a spokeswoman for the fund, said it was unlikely that all applications would be successful and unlikely that, despite the overwhelming demand, the fund would increase global spending by 50% this year.
“We have to raise more money, that's for sure. The fight against AIDS alone requires between $7bn and $10bn globally. The fund was never envisaged as the sole source, but as an additional mechanism,” she said.
A technical panel is meeting in Geneva, where the fund is based, to consider the flood of applications—most of which, totalling $641m, came from 36 countries in Africa. All the applications are for the prevention of infections and the treatment, care, and support of people who are infected and others who are directly affected. The final decisions on which proposals get funding will be taken at a board meeting in New York on 22-24 April.
According to the organisation, 40 million people are infected with HIV. In seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa over 20% of all adults are infected with the virus.
Most applications were for existing programmes to fight HIV/AIDS. Many of these focused on prevention: information campaigns, voluntary counselling and testing, and prevention of mother to child transmission. Some proposals aimed to strengthen treatment and community health care. Ms Zipperer said there were also some requests for condoms and a few for drugs.
Proposals for fighting malaria included effective distribution of bed nets, funding for treatment and better laboratory research facilities.
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AP PHOTO/ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO
A German soldier helps workers with the humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontiàres, after the earthquake that hit Afghanistan on Monday 25 March, killing an estimated 1800 people and injuring more than 5000. The World Health Organization sent an emergency team to the area to work with Unicef and voluntary organisations to help ensure that sanitary conditions are established.