AIDS Fund Raising: December 2006 Archives

Zimbabwe has received a 65 million US dollar grant from the United Nations to bolster its fight against HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, a government minister has said.

"We signed the agreement with them (the UN's Global Fund) yesterday," junior health minister Edwin Muguti told AFP Thursday.

"These funds will be used to increase our HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis programme. We also hope to reintroduce the fixed drug combination of anti-tuberculosis drugs using these funds."

The fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS in the country got a boost on Thursday with a 49-million-dollar Global Fund support to three agencies to combat the scourge of the disease.

The three agencies are the National Action Committee Against HIV/AIDS (NACA), Society for Family Health (SFH) and the Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH).

The agencies jointly signed the agreement with Global Fund at the reception organised for the visiting delegation of the Fund at the Ocean View Restaurant, Victoria Island Lagos.

Indian pharmaceutical companies Cipla and Ranbaxy under an agreement with the Clinton Foundation will reduce the prices of 19 different pediatric antiretroviral drugs in 62 developing countries to an average of 45% less than what treatments currently cost in the countries, former President Clinton announced on Thursday ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, the AP/Forbes reports (George, AP/Forbes, 11/30).

One of the formulations, a new three-in-one treatment for children, will cost about 16 cents per day, or $60 annually, according to the foundation. (Clinton Foundation release, 11/30). The antiretrovirals will be supplied directly to countries' governments and then will be distributed through public health programs and HIV prevention programs (AP/Forbes, 11/30). 

The Australian government will spend an additional $215 million as part of a commitment to fight the spread of AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the additional commitment would go towards meeting the $600 million promise to fight HIV and AIDS.

This includes $65 million over eight years to help local authorities reduce the likelihood of HIV infection among injecting drug users in Burma, Vietnam, two southern Chinese provinces, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines.

This will double the programs already currently in place in these countries.

CANDA - The federal government chose World AIDS Day to announce its long-awaited HIV-AIDS initiative package, pledging to spend an extra $120 million this year.

International Co-operation Minister Josée Verner made the announcement at a news conference in Montreal on Friday.

"We subscribe to this year's theme, which is to put a stop to AIDS," she said in French. "The new Canadian government is determined to play a very important role in combatting AIDS."

AIDS activists had expected the funding to materialize during the World AIDS conference in Toronto in mid-August.