The UK strongly supports the Global Fund and wants it to be effective in the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria. The Global Fund recently revised its resource needs to an estimated US$5.5 billion for 2006 and 2007. There is a current funding gap of US$2.1 billion for 2006 and 2007. Of this, US$1 billion is needed this year to fund a new round of grants which was launched by the board in April. The Mid-Term Review of the Global Fund (4-5 July 2006) will review the fund’s performance and mobilise extra resources for 2006-07 to fill the funding gap. The UK has committed £359 million to the Global Fund (2002-08). We have doubled our pledge for 2006 and 2007 to £100 million in each of those years. This means that our overall share of support for the Global Fund at around 5 per cent. is consistent with our support over the 2001-05 period. The UK is meeting its fair share—other donors need to do the same.
The Global Fund is only one part of our contribution to tackling AIDS, TB and malaria. The UK is committed to spend at least £1.5 billion on the global AIDS response over three years (2006-08), including our support to the Global Fund. We also provide support to the Roll Back Malaria (£7 million pledged to 2008) and Stop TB initiatives (over £49 million pledged from 1999 to 2007), as well as direct support to countries to help tackle diseases of poverty.
The UK will continue to encourage other donors including the private sector to support the Global Fund. The Prime Minister has also recently made clear that we are committed to working with developing countries, NGOs and other partners to encourage the development of long-term—10 year—health plans and to help ensure that predictable support is available from donors to support them. This will be key in helping countries strengthen their health systems and to be able to more effectively combat AIDS, TB and malaria.