With nearly 400 grants approved, the programmes financed by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are proving that treatment and prevention efforts are working where money is invested. The Global Fund works to increase resources to fight these diseases, in close cooperation with other multilateral and bilateral organizations to ensure that newly funded programmes are coordinated with existing ones. As of April 2006, newly-compiled performance results show that 544,000 people have begun antiretroviral (ARV) treatment through these programmes, up from 384,000 six months ago and more than a fourfold increase since December 2004.

Together with programmes providing directly observed short-course treatment strategy (DOTS), more than 1.4 million cases of tuberculosis have been detected and treated worldwide. In addition, Global Fund-supported programmes to combat malaria expanded the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets to 11.3 million, up from 7.7 million in December 2005.

"This latest set of performance figures comes as very good news", particularly when the United Nations was meeting, from 31 May to 2 June, to discuss progress in the fight against AIDS over the past five years, said Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund. "These results demonstrate that where countries are given the resources they need, progress against this pandemic is possible. It shows that with sufficient global resources, we can drive back this scourge."

Global Fund support for efforts to combat AIDS accounts for 56 per cent of the $5.4 million committed to date for programmes to fight the three diseases in 131 countries. Of the $3 billion allocated for AIDS, half is for prevention activities and the other half for treatment. In 2005, the Global Fund was responsible for an estimated 20 per cent of all international funding to support efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and approximately two thirds for programmes against tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.

Over the past three years, Global Fund financing has enabled nearly 53 countries to change from drugs that have become increasingly ineffective to treat malaria to the new artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), which has the potential to drastically reduce mortality from the disease among children and pregnant mothers. In some countries, Global Fund grants have also provided blanket coverage of new long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets, which afford more durable, effective protection. The roll-out of ACT or other effective combination therapies and bed nets, combined with targeted insecticide spraying and strengthening of expertise, infrastructure and training, is expected to reduce malaria mortality in large parts of Africa in the coming years.

On average, data compiled shows that grants to combat AIDS, TB and malaria are exceeding targets set out in their respective grant agreements, which serve as the basis of the Global Fund's grant evaluation. The results, released on 31 May 2006, represent the aggregation of numbers issued directly from reports on individual grants' progress. While these figures demonstrate the Fund's expanding track record in saving lives, raising awareness among vulnerable populations and preventing further infections, its funding gap for 2006 and 2007 threatens to curtail the momentum of funded programmes, as well as funding for new grants. "New rounds of grants will provide the opportunity for countries to expand the considerable progress we are seeing against the three diseases", said Carol Jacobs, Chair of the Global Fund Board. "Donors need to make long-term commitments of sufficient resources to enable developing countries to plan for the future with confidence that funding for their life-saving activities will not trail off."

Expected outcomes of grants approved by the Global Fund in rounds 1 to 5 after five years are: more than 1.8 million people on antiretrovirals; 62 million clients reached with voluntary counselling and testing services for HIV; over 1 million orphans supported through medical services, education and community care; 5 million additional TB cases treated under DOTS; 264 million ACT treatments for drug-resistant malaria delivered; and 109 million bed nets financed to protect families from the transmission of malaria.