FAO Media Release | 6 October 2010 

AFAO congratulates Government on increased pledge to the Global Fund

The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) has today congratulated the Australian Government on the 55% increase in the nation's pledge to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Australia's increased contribution of A$210m over the next three years was announced today in New York.

"We congratulate the government on this very substantial 55% increased pledge to the Global Fund in tight financial circumstances and we believe it is very appropriate in light of Australia's far better financial outcome from the global recession than nearly all other major contributors to the Global Fund," said Don Baxter, Executive Director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO).

"The overall pledges by the richer countries fall well short of the Global Fund's target of $20 billion and the $11.7 billion pledged will mean HIV prevention and treatments programs will fall further behind the pace of the virus. After making welcome though inadequate inroads against the virus over the last five years we will now go into reverse at the global level," Baxter said.

"This means more premature deaths and social disruption and more costs in the longer term - but in this context the Australian Government has done well."

Mr Baxter said that while the increased dollars to the Global Fund were welcome the increases should not stop there.

"HIV epidemics in our Asia Pacific region are being driven by injecting drug use and increasingly by male-to-male sex. The Government's AusAID HIV Strategy correctly prioritizes sex between men as the main emerging priority of concern but its funding allocations to date still do not reflect this priority at all," Mr Baxter said.

"Time is running out to intervene in the rampant epidemics among men who have sex with men sweeping through Asia's poor mega-cities and allocations to intervene in these epidemics must be made as soon as possible," Baxter said.

"We all know what needs to be done - we just don't have the funding to do it.

"We are calling on the government to inject a further $30m over five years in to prevention and support programs addressing sex between men in our near Asian neighbours."