U.S., Other Donors Release $98M for Global Fund, Bringing Total 2004 Fund Contributions to $1.56B

Officials from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Thursday said that a recent $32 million donation from the United States and about $66 million more from other donors has brought the estimated 2004 total donation amount for the group to $1.56 billion, up from $936 million in 2003, the Wall Street Journal reports. The release of the $32 million brings the total U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to about $459 million for 2004, according to fund officials, the Journal reports (Wall Street Journal, 12/17). Congress had authorized $547 million for the Global Fund for fiscal year 2004. However, the bill (HR 1298) authorizing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief stipulates that the total U.S. contribution to the Global Fund cannot exceed 33% of total contributions to the fund. U.S. Ambassador Randall Tobias, head of the State Department's Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, in August extended the funding deadline to give other countries and foundations more time to make the additional contributions to the fund. However, the additional donations were not sufficient for the United States to contribute its total allocation (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/29). The United States had withheld $120 million of the FY 2004 authorization from the Global Fund but was able to release $32 million of that amount after the fund received about $66 million in additional donations from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada and other donors, the Journal reports (Wall Street Journal, 12/17). Therefore, the remainder of the $120 million from the FY 2004 appropriation -- $88 million -- was included in the FY 2005 appropriation for the Global Fund, which was approved last month (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/29). Richard Feachem, the fund's executive director, said the organization needs approximately $2.3 billion in donations in the 2005 calendar year to continue to fund ongoing and new projects, according to the Journal (Wall Street Journal, 12/17).