Commission to accelerate fight against HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries

Summary: July 15, 2004: Commission adopts decision to pay additional € 42 million to the Global Fund to accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries (Brussels)

FR - DE - ES - PT

The European Commission has today adopted a decision to pay an additional €42 million to the Global Fund to fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in developing countries bringing its total contribution to the fund since 2002 to € 375 million. The contribution should enable the Global Fund to boost prevention, treatment and care in order to accelerate the urgently needed response to these three diseases.

Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Poul Nielson said: "We need to offer an urgent and comprehensive response if we are to win the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Today's decision is a confirmation of the European Commission's willingness to act decisively and to act fast. With today's decision we have already honoured over 80 pct. of our pledge to the Global Fund from 2002-2006."

An estimated 6 million people die every year from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and the figures are increasing. In response to this situation, the Global Fund was established in 2002. It is a financing mechanism to attract, manage and disburse additional resources to the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries where these so-called 'poverty diseases' are most prevalent.

With the full support of the Member States and the European Parliament, the Commission has allocated in total more than € 1.1 billion to fight the three poverty-related diseases (HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria) from 2003 - 2006. This represents an almost four-fold increase compared to the allocations in the period 1996 - 2002 to the fight against the three diseases.

The Global Fund has so far received payments of USD 2.4 billion from donors. The Commission alone has contributed a total of € 375 million, making it the second largest single contributor. The Commission accounts for 18 pct. of all payments so far to the Global Fund.

EU Member States and the European Commission have pledged USD 2.8 billion to the Global Fund until 2007 or more than 55% of pledges to the Global Fund in the same period. The European Commission alone has pledged € 460 million to the Global Fund from 2001 - 2006.

Contributions from donors have enabled the Global Fund to approve 296 programs in 128 countries. Sixty percent of the funding is going to activities in Africa, twenty percent in Latin America and twenty percent in Asia. By 2009 these programs are expected to have generated the following results:

Malaria: provision of 108 million insecticide-treated malaria nets and delivery of 145 million artemisin-based drug treatments for malaria;
Tuberculosis (TB): 2.8 million people will have been immunised against TB. The coverage in 2000 was 800,000. Treatment of multi-drug resistant TB will have quadrupled. 3,5 million TB patients will have been offered the internationally-recommended TB control strategy - also known as DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment, Short-Course);
HIV/AIDS: The number of people living with HIV/AIDS on ARV treatment will have increased fivefold to almost 1,6 million and voluntary HIV counselling and testing services for prevention will have been provided to 52 million people. Increased access to condoms has been included in approximate 70% of all the Global Funds approved HIV/AIDS programmes.

Background

The EC Programme for Action on Communicable Diseases constitutes the framework for the Commission's response to HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The Programme establishes for 2001-2006 a broad and coherent Community response to the global emergency caused by these three diseases. It entails a comprehensive set of actions to increase: (i) the impact of existing interventions; (ii) the affordability of key pharmaceuticals; (iii) research and development of specific global public goods to confront HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB at the regional, national and global levels (such as an AIDS vaccine); and (iv) the effectiveness of global partnerships and regional co-operation.

The Commission has recently registered 7 anti-retrovirals on the list of medicines under EU protection against trade diversion to enable pharma producers to significantly increase supplies of medicines at lower, so-called 'tiered' prices, to 76 developing countries, while keeping higher prices for the same items in the EU ( IP/04/509 ).

For a wider concept of market access and intellectual property rights, please see

http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/global/medecine/index_en.htm

For an overview of EC action against HIV/AIDS see MEMO/03/247 .

Link to: http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/publications/descript/pub7_10_en.cfm (European Commission Brochure on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria)

Link to: http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/publications/descript/pub7_6_en.cfm (Brochure on Gender in development)

Link to: http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/global/medecine/pr210404_en.htm (press release on further steps to ensure access for poor countries to medicines)

Link to: http://trade-info.cec.eu.int/cgi-bin/antitradediversion/reglementation.pl?action=languages (Commission web site where all relevant and operational information regarding anti trade diversion is accessible)

Ref: EC04-180EN
EU source: European Commission
UN forum:
Date: 15/7/2004

| Top |

< Back to previous page