The United Kingdom government is to give the Global Fund an extra US$5.3 million (£3 million) this year in a bid to leverage an additional US$47 million from other donors that will release frozen US funds of up to US$189 million.
The Fund has until September 30th to find the money, after which the US Senate cannot authorise further US contributions in 2004.
The situation has come about as a result of provisions built into the fiscal authorisation governing US Global Fund donations, which is designed to ensure that other wealthy nations also contribute to the Fund. For 2004, the United States pledged up to US$547 million for the Global Fund, provided that every US$1 was matched by US$2 from other donors by September 30th, 2004.
Prior to the UK’s contribution, an additional US$189 million was still needed to maximise the US pledge, a sum which includes the value of outstanding pledges still due for 2004. Urgent consultations are underway seeking to achieve rapid payment of these outstanding pledges within the timeframe. Even if full payment of outstanding pledges from non-US donors were to be received by the Global Fund, US$53 million would still be needed to maximize the US contribution, before taking into account the new UK contribution.
An appeal for US$53 million was made in a letter signed by Bono (on behalf of DATA – Debt AIDS Trade Africa), Nelson Mandela (on behalf of the Nelson Mandela Foundation) and Jack Valenti (on behalf of Friends of the Global Fight, an organization advocating on behalf of the Global Fund in the United States).
The letter was sent to Heads of State in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, all existing donors to the Global Fund, asking each of them for a further contribution of US$5.3 million by the deadline of September 30th, to make up the outstanding US$53 million.
The £3 million pledge from the UK follows the announcement by Prime Minister Tony Blair in July 2004 of a new pledge of £154 million over the next three years to the Global Fund, which effectively doubled the UK contribution for 2005-2007.