PHA-Exchange> The Global Fund: Which Countries Owe How Much?

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> THE GLOBAL FUND: WHICH COUNTRIES OWE HOW MUCH?
>
> By Tim France, Gorik Ooms and Bernard Rivers (21 April 2002)
>
> Nearly one year ago, the majority of the world's nations resolved at
> 'UNGASS', a major UN conference on AIDS, to increase annual expendi-
> ture on the AIDS epidemic to $7-10 billion by 2005, with much of this
> money to be raised and disbursed by a new global fund. When the fund
> was eventually set up, its mandate was extended, and it was named the
> Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
>
> AIDS, an unprecedented and accelerating emergency, is already having
> a devastating impact in Africa, with similar impacts unfolding on
> other continents. Every day, 8,000 die, and 13,000 more become in-
> fected. Experts agree that reasonable expenditures on prevention and
> treatment of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria can be of dramatic bene-
> fit not only to human health, but also to economic development.
>
> Thus far, efforts have been made to raise the money needed by the
> Global Fund through ad hoc voluntary donations. These efforts have
> failed. Governments have pledged a mere $1.8 billion. Contributions
> from the private sector have been even more disappointing, with not a
> single meaningful pledge since the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
> offered $100 million ten months ago.
>
> It's time for a new approach. The Global Fund needs to grow rapidly
> to the point where it raises $10 billion a year. Contributions to the
> Global Fund should be equitably shared among the countries whose
> citizens live the most comfortable and unthreatened lives. This means
> that the wealthiest countries, such as the US, should contribute con-
> siderably more than they currently do. But it also means that contri-
> butions should come from the likes of Australia, Singapore, and the
> United Arab Emirates ­ relatively wealthy countries that have not yet
> contributed a penny.
>
> Part of the problem is that to date, nobody has proposed which coun-
> tries should give how much. An  'Equitable Contributions Framework' should
be used as a starting  point for working out an appropriate contribution
level for each
> country, and for measuring how well each country is doing against  that
level.
>
> The Framework suggests that $1 billion a year should come from the
> private sector, as a minimum to justify the label 'public/private
> partnership' and the two seats it has out of the 18 voting seats on
> the Fund board. The remaining $9 billion a year should come, in pro-
> portion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), from the 48 countries that
> have a 'high' Human Development Index, or HDI. (The UN's HDI measures
> the overall quality of life based on standard of living, life expec-
> tancy, and literacy plus school-enrolment.)
>
> The proposed contribution comes to 0.035% of GDP for each country.
> Not one country has yet given at this level. Assuming, in the absence
> of better data, that every contribution made thus far is entirely for
> use this year, the Netherlands (contributing at 97% of its proposed
> level), Sweden (73%) and Italy (57%) have done reasonably well. Sev-
> enteen countries have given between 1% and 50% of the proposed level,
> with Japan and the US at a very disappointing 12% and 13%, respec-
> tively. And 28 'high development' countries have given nothing at
> all. Further details are provided at
> http://www.hdnet.org   and  http://www.aidspan.org
>
> It is to the credit of countries like Uganda and Nigeria that, poor
> as they are on a per capita basis, they have made multi-million-
> dollar contributions to the Fund. And it is to the shame of many of
> the 48 relatively wealthy countries that they have contributed little
> or nothing, without even stating why.
>
> The Global Fund represents a bold new approach. The Fund's leaders
> say that it will be more fast-moving, participatory, transparent and
> accountable than traditional channels. The Fund needs a chance to
> prove itself. It would be a shame if it were to fail simply because
> it did not receive the funding it needs to get properly established
> and to respond to the most urgent and obvious needs.
>
> Dr. Tim France
> Health & Development Networks
> Thailand
>
> Gorik Ooms
> Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Luxembourg
> Mozambique
>
> Bernard Rivers
> Aidspan
> USA (New York)

Note: The GDP in 2000 of all 48 richest countries totalled $25,569 billion.
The GDP
> of the US that year was $9,882 billion, or 38.7% of the total. Thus,
> if the 48 countries shared equitably the donation of $9 billion annu-
> ally to the Global Fund (with the remaining $1 billion coming from
> the private sector), the US's contribution would be  $3.479.

 The European Commission has pledged $106.9 million to the Global
> Fund.  Denmark, Portugal, Finland and Greece have not made
> any direct pledges.
>
> Non 'high HDI' countries that have donated are Russia ($20m.), Ni-
> geria ($10m.), Uganda ($2m.), Zimbabwe ($1m.), Andorra ($100,000),
> Niger ($50,000), Liberia ($25,000), Kenya ($8,273).
>
> Financial contributions to the Fund have decreased significantly in
> recent months, and are far below the originally intended level. The
> first funding requests for grants from the Fund, in March 2002, were
> already for far more money than the Fund can currently provide in any
> sustained way. These problems have led to considerable frustration among
governments and NGOs that seek Global Fund support.
>
> If you or your organization is encouraging contributions to the Fund
> from your own country,  highlight your country's appropriate contribution
and the consequent shortfall. You can then use these figures as a basis for
lobbying and other activities  to increase the support for the Fund by your
government and by corpo-
> rations and foundations within your country. Feel free to forward the
> article to others, or to post it at your web site.
>
>
> This article is distributed by Health & Development Networks (HDN)
> (http://www.hdnet.org), an Irish non-profit organization that seeks
> to mobilize a more effective response to HIV/AIDS and other health-
> and-development issues by improving information, communication and
> the quality of debate.