Wealthy nations accused of AIDS funding shortfall

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – AIDS advocates accused wealthy
nations on Thursday of falling behind on a 2005 pledge to
greatly step up their contributions to global programs set up
to combat the pandemic in developing countries.

A looming shortfall in international donors’ funding for
AIDS treatment and related programs represents “a scandalous
betrayal” of the commitments made by the Group of Eight
industrialized nations at a summit in Gleneagles Scotland last
July, said Stephen Lewis, the U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS
in Africa.

The G8 meeting promised stepped-up development aid would
ensure AIDS treatment for all who need it by 2010. While 2010
is still four years away, advocacy groups say it appears the
money behind the promise is not materializing.

Richard Burzynski of the International Council of AIDS
Service Organizations said the Global Fund to Fight Aids,
Tuberculosis and Malaria, the main vehicle for funding AIDS
treatment in poor nations, already faced a $2.1 billion
shortfall for this year and next year alone.

While the fund hoped to hand out at least $2.8 billion in
treatment grants this year and $2.7 billion in 2007, it so far
had pledges of just $1.9 billion for 2006 and $1.5 billion for
2007, he said.

Lewis, Burzynski and other activists spoke at a news
conference on the sidelines of a three-day U.N. conference that
is weighing changes in the global strategy against AIDS adopted
by world governments five years ago.

The Geneva-based global fund, which is administered
independently and has no formal ties to the United Nations, was
set up in January 2002 and is already the single largest source
of subsidies for global AIDS programs.

In 2005 it was responsible for about a fifth of all
international funding for programs to combat the disease.

“People are being kept alive by the global fund,” said
Lewis. If the money falls short, “people die. This is simply a
matter of life and death,” he said.