Multi-million pound boost to fight killer diseases in Burma

17 NOVEMBER 2009
Burma is set to receive hundreds of millions of pounds from the Global Fund to tackle AIDS, TB and malaria.
At its conference in Ethiopia last week, the Global Fund agreed to provide approximately US$ 111 million from 2011 to 2013 and up to US$ 288 million over five years to fight these killer diseases.
The news is a massive boost for an estimated 238,000 Burmese people living with HIV - one of the highest infection rates in Asia – and for a country where thousands die each year from TB and malaria.
The Global Fund announcement comes after a successful proposal from a variety of stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, UN, international NGOs and local civil society groups, including people living with HIV.
Treating an HIV patient privately costs about $30 per month – more than the average income, but the Burmese government spends less than $1 per person per year on health.
The Global Fund is a multi-billion dollar financing institution, established in 2002, to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria wherever the need is greatest around the world.
In 2007, the UK made a long-term commitment to the Global Fund of up to £1 billion to 2015.
Three Diseases Fund
After the Global Fund left Burma in 2005, the $100 million Three Diseases Fund was set up between the UK, Australia, the European Commission, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden to maintain funding for AIDS, TB and malaria.
The fund's success has encouraged the Global Fund to return to Burma.
It showed it was possible to deliver effective aid in Burma through UN agencies, international NGOs and local community-based organisations.
The Three Diseases Fund has helped 600,000 HIV sufferers since 2006 through a range of prevention and support programmes and supported treatment for 700,000 malaria sufferers and over 30,000 TB patients.
DFID is increasing the UK’s contribution to the Three Diseases Fund by £10 million, bringing its total contribution to £30.1 million by 2011. Other donors are also increasing their commitments.
Ko Naung Mon (not his real name) is a former injecting drug user who is now living with HIV. He is one of the 70% of Burma’s population living on less than a dollar a day.
His work as a farmer does not earn him enough to pay for the expensive Anti-retroviral treatment (ART) which stops the development of HIV into AIDS.
A number of initiatives for injecting drug users and support groups funded by the Three Diseases Fund helped him to complete a drug detoxification programme, restart his life as a farmer and support himself and his family.
Read more about the Three Diseases Fund and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Media-Room/News-Stories/2009/Burma-get-millions-to-fight-trio-of-killer-diseases/