AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF),
the US’ largest provider of HIV/AIDS healthcare, education and prevention
and operator of free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin
America/Caribbean and Asia, today echoed the sentiments of a Washington
Post editorial, “A Question of Will,” (December 18, 2006) which strongly
criticized The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Calling
the Fund an institution in “disarray,” the Post editorial states that the
flaws in the organization stem not only from the current uncertainty
regarding its leadership (Executive Director, Richard Feachem, is stepping
down and the Board’s search for a replacement has stalled), but is
“compounded by uncertainty over its business model.”

“As a provider of free AIDS treatment for patients in need around the
globe, AIDS Healthcare Foundation protested the management structure of The
Global Fund from day one, believing that its dependence on national
governments — often prone to corruption — ultimately hurts AIDS
patients,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

“The Global Fund has made a significant impact on the HIV/AIDS pandemic,
getting lifesaving medicines to hundreds of thousands of people for whom it
was previously out of reach. However, six years after it was created, it’s
time for the Fund to acknowledge the flaws in its processes that keep the
organization from being as effective as possible. The Fund’s own Board of
Directors instructed the staff to make changes to the Country Coordinating
Mechanisms. That request has been ignored. Additionally, the structure of
The Global Fund marginalizes Non-Governmental Organizations — agencies
that, in many cases, are responsible for the provision of medical care on
the ground and whose participation could help remedy these concerns.”

In regards to donor confidence and its effect on the Fund, the Post
editorial further states: “Until the fund’s leadership question is resolved
and until the new leader finds the right balance between hands-off and
hands- on, there will also be uncertainty about the fund’s finances. Over
the past five years, the fund has disbursed just over $3 billion to 136
countries — a quick start for a new agency. But the fund needs to grow,
perhaps providing half of the $8 billion-plus per year that’s reckoned to
be needed to meet the challenge of these three diseases. Without this sort
of boost, there won’t be enough money to deploy the medical tools that
already exist, let alone to make use of new discoveries such as last week’s
on circumcision.”

Mr. Weinstein added, “The Post editorial got it right: until there are
fundamental changes in the structure of the Fund, donor confidence will
continue to be undermined and the Fund will not be able to grow to meet the
continuing challenges of this epidemic.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation
aidshealth/