The Global Fund on AIDS, Malaria and Tuberclosis invites Funding The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued a call for a new round of proposals for grant funding.The new round of grants will contribute to a substantial increase in the amount of money available in the global fight against the three diseases. Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has grown to become the world's largest financier of programs to fight the three diseases. AIDS, TB and malaria together kill more than six million people each year and impede economic and social development in a large number of developing countries. "We are looking for proposals of the highest quality, particularly from partnerships that include the private sector and local non-governmental organizations," said US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson. Mr Thompson, who is also the chairman of the Global Fund board said the money was expected to "to meet the greatest challenge of our times - turning back the tide of these three pandemics". The current call is the fourth round of proposals. In three previous rounds, the Global Fund has committed US$ 2.1 billion over two years to 224 programs in over 120 countries to combat the three diseases. This round of proposals comes in the wake of the World Health Organization and UNAIDS' launch of the "three-by-five" initiative to provide anti-AIDS treatment for three million people living with HIV by the end of 2005. The Global Fund will provide many countries with their main opportunity to finance the massive expansion of services needed to succeed in this commitment.This round will also encourage countries to submit ambitious, large-scale proposals to combat malaria. A number of countries are now ready to conduct a major offensive against malaria," says Dr Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund. "We have effective tools to prevent and treat malaria. We need to spread these tools to as many countries and people as possible." The fourth round of proposals also represents a major opportunity for private sector companies to expand their efforts to prevent and treat these diseases among their work force and in the surrounding communities. In December, nine global companies with operations in countries affected by HIV/AIDS announced that they will use their facilities, employees and other infrastructure to expand workplace HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs into communities where they operate. By using infrastructure that was created to serve their employees, this corporate contribution will be able to expand public programs and reduce their start-up and running costs. Companies can now submit proposals for co-investment in prevention and treatment of the three diseases to the Global Fund, increasing the impact of their own efforts. "I urge companies around the world to submit proposals for combating the three diseases, expanding workplace prevention and treatment programs into communities where they operate," said Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, former diplomat and president of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS. The deadline for submission of proposals is April 5, 2004.Proposals are evaluated by an independent Technical Review Panel of health and development experts. Proposals found to be of a sufficiently high standard will be recommended for funding to the Global Fund's Board, which will meet at the end of June. Over the past three rounds, roughly 40 per cent of submitted proposals have been deemed to have the technical quality necessary to be recommended for funding. All recommended proposals have so far been funded. The Global Fund is a unique global public-private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat 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 Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts dealing with the three diseases. The Global Fund has been established as an independent private foundation under Swiss law and is governed by an international Board. Apart from a high standard of technical quality, the Global Fund attaches no conditions to any of its grants. It is not an implementing agency. It relies on local ownership and planning to ensure that new resources are directed to programs on the frontline of this global effort, reaching those most in need. Its performance-based approach to grant-making - where grants are only disbursed if progress has been measured and verified - is designed to ensure that funds are used efficiently and create real change for people and communities. *********************** Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit proposals through a new web-based Proposals and Grants Management System available on the website in English, French, and Spanish from January 14 2004. Updated guidelines and application forms are also available for downloading from www.theglobalfund.org/en/apply/call/. Applicants unable to use the web-based version may request a CD-ROM from the Global Fund Secretariat.