Looks like Congress tied Bush's hands on the Aids front. Originally, Bush wanted $15 billion to be spent over 5 years.
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U.S. withholds AIDS funds
Move is effort to get other nations to pay.
Published Thursday, August 19, 2004
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States challenged other countries yesterday to pay their share of the world’s premier AIDS-fighting fund by the end of September or lose $120 million in U.S. cash.
At issue is financing for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a program initiated by the United Nations.
It was supposed to provide roughly $7 billion a year to fight those diseases. But it is facing a serious budget shortfall that AIDS activists say jeopardizes efforts to stem the growing epidemic in poor countries.
Congress set aside $547 million as the U.S. contribution to the fund this year but on the condition that the U.S. money could not exceed 33 percent of the fund’s total donations. It was considered an incentive to ensure that other donors pitched in, said Randall Tobias, the U.S. global AIDS coordinator.
As a result, donations from other countries or private donors had to total $1.11 billion for the Swiss-based Global Fund to get all the U.S. cash, Tobias said. But he calculates the non-U.S. share is $243 million short.
So the United States is set to withhold a final $120 million contribution, a far higher amount than AIDS advocates had expected.
But Tobias announced yesterday that he’d make an exception: If other donors make up the shortfall by Sept. 30, he’ll release the U.S. cash after all.
"The U.S. government certainly wants the Global Fund to have this money, but we have to provide it in accordance with U.S. law," Tobias said. "I am very, very hopeful that the rest of the world will take action."
The announcement came after negotiations between Tobias and Global Fund Director Richard Feachem.
Countries pledge how much they’ll give to the Global Fund, but when they deliver the actual cash varies, with many waiting until closer to year’s end. Congress, on the other hand, set July 31 as the date Tobias’ office is supposed to calculate the final U.S. payment.
Some AIDS specialists worry that another six weeks isn’t enough time for other countries to contribute.
"This is not a matter of arithmetic. This is a matter of life and death," said Stephen Lewis, the U.N.’s special envoy to Africa on AIDS. |
