EU contributes to Global Health Fund

The European Commission today agreed on a contribution of € 120 million to the proposed Global Health Fund for the year 2001. The President of the Commission Romano Prodi will present this contribution when he participates in the G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy on 20-22 July.

Speaking in Brussels, President Prodi said he was strongly committed to the establishment of the Fund: "We set out our policy priorities in the Commission programme for accelerated action against the major communicable diseases. It was adopted last year. Today's commitment should provide us with a further instrument to fight the three major communicable diseases, which are the plight of the world and a catastrophe for the developing world in particular. This commitment is additional to the substantial resources which we already provide to improve health in developing countries"

On 26 April UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for the establishment of a Global Fund dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Delegates to the recent UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS endorsed this call.

The Fund will focus on prevention as the best approach to tackle diseases in developing countries, while allowing for cure and commodities (condoms, bednets, medicines) to offer hope for the sick. The Commission's programme for accelerated action against the major communicable diseases has helped define the objectives of the Health Fund.

The Fund is a genuinely international Fund open to contributions and participation from all stakeholders. It represents a public-private partnership with the potential to channel significant additional development assistance to needy countries. To maximize its impact it must work in new and innovative ways that build on the policies and efforts being undertaken in developing countries themselves.

If the new Health Fund is to play the crucial role that it could and should, it will be essential to get the operational detail right over coming months. The Fund must complement ongoing and long-term investment in health in developing countries. It must address the three major communicable diseases in the wider context of comprehensive health policies and systems building. It will make a difference only where the right policies and practices are in place: where, for example, sensitive issues such as contraceptives and sexual education are openly addressed and where the necessary society wide responses are backed by adequate national budgets.

The European Commission makes this pledge in the belief that work on this new international instrument is working in the right direction. Indeed, on 12-13 July, the Commission hosted a formal meeting of more than 30 different partners, representing donor and beneficiary governments, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and representatives of the private sector. This led to the establishment of a Transitional Working Group and a small technical support secretariat. It will be important to draw on the advice and expertise of this Group as the new Global health Fund takes shape.

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