GLOBAL FUND CONSIDERS GRANT REQUESTS WORTH $950 MILLION

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has announced that a review panel has recommended 85 requests for funding worth a total of $949 million over two years to the board of the Global Fund for its consideration. The recommended proposals represent 43 percent of all eligible requests for funding received by the Global Fund for its sixth round of funding. The board is expected to approve the recommended proposals at its upcoming meeting.

The Global Fund in May issued its sixth call for proposals for grant funding, with an application deadline of early August. Applicants, including many African countries, submitted proposals to seek funding to fight the three pandemics and requested amounts totaled approximately $2.7 billion over two years. The board will only be able to approve grants for which it has sufficient financial pledges. The current shortfall of resources is approximately $300 million.

As of June, 544,000 people have begun antiretroviral treatment through Global Fund-supported programs, a more than 40 percent increase over the previous six months. In addition, tuberculosis programs have detected and treated more than 1.4 million tuberculosis cases under the internationally approved tuberculosis treatment strategy.