Helping Hand
September 27, 2007
The executive director of the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine, said on Wednesday that he hoped the international donor conference would raise a total of at least $8 billion (5.7 billion euros) for the period between 2008 and 2010.
Some 6 million people worldwide are estimated to die each year of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, all three of which can be treated.
The Global Fund, established by the Group of Eight highly industrialized nations (G8) and the UN, estimates that it has saved some 2 million lives since it was set up in 2002 to raise, manage and distribute resources to fight the three infections.
The organization finances two-thirds of all worldwide funding against tuberculosis and malaria and one-fifth of all resources to fight AIDS.
Germany pledges 800 billion euros
The Global Fund donor conference in Berlin, which will be opened by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, is the second of its kind. In June this year, G8 nations meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany, provisionally allocated a total of 44 billion euros to curb the three diseases.
Kazatchkine said Berlin had to send out a hopeful signal to fight these killer illnesses. Germany has said it plans to divert around 600 million euros by 2010 to the fund. The German government will provide an additional 200 million euros over the next four years, according to Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul.
A win-win situation
The extra funds will be used for the "Debt2Health" initiative, which involves providing debt relief for developing nations if they spend the money on domestic healthcare programs via the Global Fund.
"[The initiative] is so enlightening that you have to ask yourself why it's only happening now," said Wieczorek-Zeul.
On Wednesday, the German government signed an agreement with Indonesia that will forgive the country of 50 million euros worth of debt on the condition Jakarta ploughs half that amount into healthcare programs in the country. The pilot agreement will last for two years, after which countries such as Pakistan, Kenya and Peru will take part.
Wieczorek-Zeul said the agreement was a win-win situation for all involved.
"The Global Fund gets more planning security for its important work, Indonesia strengthens its healthcare system and Germany will stand up to its responsibility in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria," the minister said.
Germany must do more
Critics, however, said Germany could do more to help developing countries.
Karl Addicks, development expert for the opposition free-market liberal FDP, urged a better monitoring system be put in place at the Global Fund.
"There have been a few cases of betrayed trust and the use of medicines beyond their expiry date," he said.
Claudia Roth, head of the opposition Green party, said Germany also lagged far behind other industrialized nations when it came to aid for the Global Fund.
"The German government should learn from France and, for instance, introduce a tax on airline tickets to … support developing countries more strongly," said Roth.