THE GLOBAL FUND LAUNCHES ADDITIONAL FUNDING ROUND IN 2008 [Новость добавлена - 05.06.2008]

GENEVA - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today
announced that it will launch a second call for proposals in 2008,
inviting countries burdened by the three diseases to submit additional
requests for funding. It will be the ninth round of funding since the
Global Fund's creation in 2002, and it is only the second time that two
calls for proposals have been launched in the course of a single year.

The new funding round will open on 1 October 2008 and the Board of the
Global Fund is expected to approve new grants under this round at its
Board Meeting in May 2009. Round 9 will be supplementing Round 8 which
was launched in March this year. Round 8's submission deadline is 1
July.

Demand for this additional round of funding arises from the growing
impact of country-led AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs, and
recognition that an additional opportunity to access funding this year
further supports the rapid scale-up of in-country efforts to reduce the
burden of the three diseases.

"Two funding rounds in one year confirms the Global Fund's ability to
respond quickly and appropriately to countries' demands", said Dr Michel
Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund. "These additional
resources could pay for a large increase in insecticide-impregnated bed
nets against malaria and a continued expansion of programs to treat and
prevent AIDS and tuberculosis."

Round 9 also provides the opportunity for countries to resubmit, six
months earlier than usual, proposals that may have been rejected under
Round 8. Round 9 will not replace the funding round scheduled for 2009;
the Round 10 call for proposals is preliminarily scheduled for April
2009.

To expedite the process, the same proposal form and guidelines that were
issued for Round 8 will also be used in Round 9. The submitted proposals
will first be screened for eligibility and completeness by the
Secretariat and are then forwarded to an independent Technical Review
Panel (TRP), which assesses them for technical merit and consistency.
Proposals that have been rejected in Round 8 and that are resubmitted in
Round 9 will only be screened for completeness and will then be
forwarded to the TRP. The Board approves programs that are recommended
for funding by the technical review panel; initially for a two year
period, with an option to renew funding for a second three-year phase if
the programs achieve targeted results.

"Round 8, which is already underway, and Round 9 will provide the
opportunity for countries to expand upon the considerable progress we
are already seeing against the three diseases", said Rajat Gupta, Chair
of the Global Fund Board. "Donors have provided more than US$3 billion
for additional programs for 2008 and 2009 combined and their generosity
brings hope to millions of people around the globe who will benefit from
the prevention and treatment activities that the Global Fund will
support financially."

Just like for Round 8, proposals submitted should be based on a
comprehensive needs assessment - including efforts to scale up access to
key prevention services for the three diseases through both public and
non-public implementers.

To help applicants in proposal preparation, the Global Fund has created
an online "Call for Proposals" Forum on http://myglobalfund.org/ to
supplement the information provided directly from the Secretariat. The
website provides applicants with the opportunity to benefit from
real-time questions and answers and to share lessons learned regarding
proposal development.

Guidelines and proposal forms are available on the Global Fund's
website, www.theglobalfund.org.

Since its creation in 2002, he Global Fund has become the main source of
finance for programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, with
approved funding of US$ 10.7 billion for more than 550 programs in 136
countries. So far, programs supported by the Global Fund have averted
more than 2 million deaths by providing AIDS treatment for 1.4 million
people, TB treatment for 3.3 million people, and by distributing 46
million insecticide-treated bed nets for the prevention of malaria
worldwide.

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The Global Fund is a unique global public/private partnership dedicated
to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This partnership between
governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities
represents a new approach to international health financing. The Global
Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral
organizations to supplement existing efforts dealing with the three
diseases.

The Global Fund provides more than 20 percent of international funding
to fight AIDS, as well as two-thirds of international funding to fight
tuberculosis and three quarters of the international funding against
malaria.

 

Global Fund Contacts:

Jon Liden - Head, Communications
Office: +41 22 791 17 23
Mobile: +41 79 244 60 06
Email: jon.liden@theglobalfund.org

Nicolas Demey - Communications Officer
Office: +41 22 791 59 57
Mobile: +41 79 504 21 34
Email: nicolas.demey@theglobalfund.org