PartnersGF - 2004-11-17

Angry AIDS Activists Demonstrate at Meeting of Global Fund, Heads of State, to Demand Immediate Launch of New Funding Round

MEDIA RELEASE
November 16, 2004

From:

Dandora Community AIDS Support Organization (DACASA)
Kenya Treatment Access Movement (KETAM)
Kenya Organisation of People Living with AIDS (KOPLWA)

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U.S., Other Donors, Lobby Ahead of Board Meeting to Delay Fund's Grants


(Arusha) Over 150 AIDS activists and people living with HIV/AIDS from Kenya and other countries will be demonstrating outside the Arusha International Conference Centre November 17, the start of the Global Fund's 9th Board Meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, to demand the immediate launch of the Global Fund's 5th Round of grants.

Kofi Annan, heads of states of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Global Fund board members will be discussing the future of the Global Fund at the meeting. Outside, the activists will be chanting "LAUNCH ROUND 5 NOW! FUND THE FUND! TREAT THE PEOPLE!" and "YOU TALK. WE DIE."

"We are Kenyan activists and Kenyans living with HIV demonstrating in solidarity with people around the world to demand the Global Fund immediately launch Round 5--the next opportunity for countries to apply for funding," said James Kamau of the Kenya Treatment Access Movement (KETAM). "We will bring our voices, our bodies, outside of the Conference Centre, to face the board members from rich countries that will be deciding whether the millions of people waiting for treatment will have to wait even longer."

According to activists, a November call for proposals is threatened by donors who would rather delay it, than provide additional funding to cover the anticipated grants. "A vote against the November 2004 launch of round 5 is a vote against people living with HIV. The USA, along with some other donors on the board, will vote against an immediate launch of the round, because as long as round 5 isn't launched, we cannot pressure them to fund it," said Patricia Asero Ochieng of the Dandora Community AIDS Support Organization (DACASA), an adherence counselor in the ARV clinic at Mbagathi District Hospital.

Kenya's application for Round Four focused primarily on scaling up access to HIV/AIDS treatment. The experts who review grants rejected the proposal on technical grounds, but strongly urged Kenya to make changes and reapply for the 5th round. "Kenya has a particular interest in fighting to make sure 5th round moves forward as soon as possible in order to save our brothers and sisters who are dying daily due to lack of access to needed treatment," Siama Musine, co-founder of Kenya Organisation of People Living with HIV/AIDS (KOPLWA), based in the Kibera slum, the largest slum in Africa.

The Global Fund needs an estimated $3.5 billion in 2005 to pay for renewals of existing grants and two new rounds of funding-rounds 5 and 6. Only $900 million has been pledged thus far in 2005. Activists say donors are putting pressure on board members from poor countries to vote against an immediate launch of Round 5, claiming a "go slow" approach would allow the Global Fund to raise additional funds. However, activists are quick to point out, for the previous round, the majority of the funding necessary-80%-was pledged after the board agreed to launch the round.

"The Bush administration is spreading lies that a November Launch of Round 5 will create false hope for the recipients, hoping that donors will vote for a "go slow" approach. Meanwhile, the U.S. builds up their own AIDS project, the Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The program is discriminatory against low-cost generic AIDS drugs and prevention efforts other than abstinence," said Ernest Osairi of KOPLWA. "The Bush administration wants to benefit the U.S. pharmaceuticals and U.S.-based faith-based organizations at our expense. The Global Fund will provide the money, but without the harmful conditions."

"Donors have consistently underfunded the Global Fund. The Bush Administration wants to commit $200 million for 2005 when the U.S. fair share of funding is one-third of what the Global Fund needs in 2005, or one-third of $3.5 billion," said Kassim Issa of KOPLWA. "Donors should agree to contribute to the fund according to their fair share of global wealth, instead it is based on willingness to pay, resulting in underfunding and undermining the best chance we have for massive scale-up of AIDS treatment."

The Global Fund was launched by Kofi Annan in April 2001 in response to activists demands for billions in additional funding for a mechanism that funds access to HIV to treatment. The Global Fund supports prevention, treatment, and care programs battling HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in 128 countries. Presently 16,000 people die of TB, HIV, and malaria daily due to lack of access to treatment and care.

CONTACT: Patricia Asero Ochieng, Tel:             +254 733-590-232