Stop AIDS Campaign Urges Great Britain to Increase Contribution to Global AIDS Fund

The Stop AIDS Campaign, a coalition of 15 British charities, on Wednesday launched an effort designed to pressure the British government into increasing its contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Reuters reports (Miles, Reuters, 3/7). The government has pledged $200 million over five years to the fund, which has so far grossed $1.9 billion but is estimated to need $10 billion annually (Dale, OneWorld Africa, 3/6). The Stop AIDS Project is encouraging the government to donate 0.7% of the nation's gross domestic product. "We are calling on the British government ... to increase the aid budget to enable the U.K. to increase its spending on [the African AIDS] crisis five-fold," Mike Aronson, director general of coalition member Save the Children, said, adding, "We're talking about less money than people in the U.K. spend each year on ice cream. ... I think that many British people -- if they really knew the extent of the problem -- would be appalled" (Reuters, 3/7). Milly Katana, an HIV-positive woman from Uganda, is in London this week at the invitation of the Stop AIDS Project to speak to government officials about the HIV/AIDS situation in Africa. "As a strong member of the international community, Britain must play a key role in raising awareness of the Global Fund and help in the major challenges of fundraising," Katana said, noting that the current pledges are "an important start, but far more resources are needed to adequately address HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria" (OneWorld Africa, 3/6). Katana was recently appointed by the fund's board to serve as a representative of the people of developing countries (Stop AIDS Campaign release, 3/4).