Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, is worried about “flat-lining support” for HIV funding.
“Flat-lining will not take us far enough in treatment or prevention – we need to expand,” Kazatchkine said in an interview with IRIN/PlusNews.
He also revealed that the global recession had little impact on the fund’s resources as all donors delivered on their commitment.
“Where the impact may be the strongest is often in the [poor] countries,” Kazatchkine added. “People may not realize that poor countries have suffered disproportionally more from the crisis than rich countries, because their exports have been going down and the price of imported goods has not decreased.”
Kazatchkine likewise said he is aware that funding for some programs has been delayed, but this is mainly due to untimely submission of requests.
“There are bureaucratic reasons … this is why we have a large amount of money channelled through civil society,” he remarked.
