$2.4 billion Global Fund to fight disease

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved grants worth US$2.4 billion over two years. With this grant, the Global Fund has approved US$18.4 billion for 144 countries since it was created in 2002 to fight infectious diseases in developing countries, reports Sanchita Sharma.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved grants worth US$2.4 billion over two years. With this grant, the Global Fund has approved US$18.4 billion for 144 countries since it was created in 2002 to fight infectious diseases in developing countries.

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India has been granted $128,583,221 for tuberculosis, malaria and HIV. $69,477,410, has been approved for tuberculosis projects over 2 years, with malaria getting a commitment of $38,105,605, and HIV, of $21,000,206.

This is the ninth time the Global Fund Board approved new proposals to support country programmes fighting the three diseases. The total two-year value of the programs recommended for funding was US $2.4 billion; the second largest -ever approved by the Global Fund, following a US $2.75 billion round in 2008. The next round of grants will be launched in May 2010.

“These grants are based on the countries’ own needs and priorities and they are therefore a particularly effective source of financing,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Ethiopian Health Minister and chair of the Global Fund Board.

Over 1.9 million of the world’s 9.1 million people with tuberculosis live in India, but Multidrug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) is increasing. The new funding will be used to treat MDR-TB, which has a prevalence of 3 per cent in new cases and 12-17 per cent in re-treatment cases.

India has an estimated 10.6 million annual cases of malaria, with 1,044.7 million people at risk of malaria. The mosquito-borne disease causes 1,000 deaths, mostly in Assam, Orissa and West Bengal. Almost all deaths and 44.3 per cent of all cases in India are caused by the P falciparum strain.