AUSTRALIA’S $210M TO GLOBAL FUND MAKES SENSE

The AIDS Action Council of the ACT has congratulated the Australian Government for pledging $210 million over 2011-2013 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at the pledging session in New York overnight, following United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit attended by foreign minister Kevin Rudd.

“This pledge isn’t a donation, it’s an investment in the health and economy of our region” says Andrew Burry, General Manager of the AIDS Action Council. “Australia doesn’t exist in a vacuum and we rely on stability around us. HIV acquired overseas is also one of the fastest growing sources of HIV diagnosis in Australia.”

Australia’s $210 million (AUD) pledge over 2011-2013 matches its same pledge over the years 2001-2010, effectively ramping up its contribution considerably. Australia is also participating in the Debt2Health debt swap program with Indonesia, contributing an additional $18.8 million (AUD). Australia is the 15th largest contributor to the Global Fund.

“The Global Fund is one of the world’s leading funds in accountability and effectiveness and the main funder of HIV treatments globally,” Andrew Burry explains. “In 2006 the world promised to make treatments available to everyone with HIV by 2010, but still we have still only achieved 28% coverage in low and middle income countries.”

“Bill Clinton took the stage at the International AIDS Conference and declared that he wanted his grandchildren to know that all children living with HIV had access to treatments. Now is a critical stage for the HIV epidemic, and Australia’s pledge is important.”

In May this year the Canberra Declaration on HIV and Human Rights was presented at the International AIDS Memorial at the National Museum of Australia. It calls for human rights for people living with HIV, including the right to health care and essential treatments.

The AIDS Action Council of the ACT is a community based organisation established to minimise the social and personal impacts, and transmission, of HIV/AIDS. The Council remains as the only community based HIV specific agency in the ACT region and has developed into a strong organisation with services based on sound evidence, specialist knowledge and professional practice.

http://www.aidsaction.org.au