The rest of the world has contributed so little to the fight against AIDS that the US cannot make its full contribution this year, President George W. Bush's global AIDS coordinator said on Wednesday.
The coordinator, Randall Tobias, said he would wait two months beyond the contribution deadline, hoping other countries or private donors would come up with US$240 million in donations to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. By law, the US can give only a third of all the money going to the fund, so if other countries do not give enough, the government must limit its matching grant.
"I'm very hopeful that the rest of the world will take action, so we can donate the full amount," Tobias said.
In announcing formation of the fund in 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he hoped it would attract up to US$10 billion a year. Instead, it has struggled to raise much over US$1 billion annually, and has handed out US$3 billion in 128 countries so far.
Fund administrators have pointed out that poor African and Asian countries need time to rebuild frayed healthcare systems and would have trouble absorbing billions right away, but the response has been disappointing to them.
"I don't have an explanation for why other countries have not stepped up to the magnitude that is needed," Tobias said on Wednesday. He did not criticize any country, but he praised the UK, which in June effectively doubled its pledge for the next three years.
At this summer's AIDS conference in Bangkok, Thailand, it was estimated that the world would soon need US$24 billion a year to fight AIDS, said Anil Soni, executive director of Friends of the Global Fight, the fund's money-raising arm in Washington. If rich nations do not increase their giving, Soni said, "we're fast approaching a plateau that would be insufficient."
Under the budget it passed in January, Congress authorized the US to donate US$547 million to the Global Fund, more than double the Bush administration's request of US$200 million. But a provision of the authorization limits the US to donating no more than 33 percent of the world's total. To allow the full matching amount, other countries would have to donate US$1.1 billion, which was due at the World Bank by the end of last month.
Instead, the world fell about US$240 million short of the goal, so the US is holding back US$120 million. The money reverted to the control of Tobias, who could have given it to the fund he oversees, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which is completely under US control and fights AIDS in 15 African and Caribbean countries. But Tobias said he has "a lot of latitude under the law," and would extend the period for matching donations to the Global Fund until Sept. 30.
The US has been the fund's largest donor, giving US$983 million since the fund started. The EU has donated US$450 million, France US$300 million, Japan US$246 million, Italy US$215 million, the UK US$173 million and the Netherlands US$100 million. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given US$150 million.
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