After funding freezes, staff cuts and leadership changes, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is back in business. The group plans to spend $1.67 billion in the coming two years on health grants, including more than $1 billion for new projects.
The decision was made at the Global Fund’s board meeting, which ends May 11. Up to $616 million will go toward the renewal of existing grants, subject to review by the fund’s technical review panel and approval by the board, according to a press release.
The fund has also set aside $500 million in contingency money in case of shortfalls, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The two-year, “better than expected” funding cycle was made possible by money from new donors, a hike in contributions from existing donors and the cutting of support for programs in some emerging economies such as China and Brazil, Gabriel Jaramillo, the fund’s general manager, told WSJ.
Jaramillo has been busy reorganizing the fund’s operations, and he told WSJ he is eager to fill several vacancies with people from the private sector to strengthen the organization’s “private sector culture.”
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