• Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM)

The Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria is an independent, international, public-private partnership which was established in January 2002 following the call made by the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, for the creation of a global fund to channel additional resources to fight these three diseases which kill more than six million people each year. A UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS in June 2001 concluded with a commitment to create this fund, which the G8 endorsed and helped finance at their meeting in Genoa in July 2001.

The Board of the Global Fund consists of 18 members, equally distributed between donor countries, recipient countries, the private sector and civil society. Its business is run by a small secretariat based in Geneva. Funding proposals are reviewed by an independent panel of 25 technical experts. Grant applications, coordination and monitoring of projects are undertaken by Country Coordinating Mechanisms, organised by recipient countries and consisting of government, civil society, private sector and other representatives, including people living with the three diseases.

Ireland has been a strong advocate and support of the GFATM since its inception, and is one of only a small number of countries to have fully honoured its pledge to the Fund, with a total of €12.9 million released in 2002. Ireland shares a constituency seat on the Board of the Fund with Sweden, Netherlands, Norway and Denmark and has been represented at all board meetings to date. Considerable progress has been made by the Fund. Grants of over $866 million have been awarded to 60 countries to assist with rapidly scaling up programmes to stop AIDS, TB and malaria. 60% of the grants will go to fight HIV/AIDS with Africa receiving the majority of funding.

• International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) was established in 1996 to `ensure that safe and effective preventive HIV vaccines are developed that are appropriate for use throughout the world, in particular in those regions most affected by HIV/AIDS’. IAVI was founded to address with effectiveness, efficiency and urgency the world’s lack of progress toward the development of such vaccines. It is trying to help the world create new products, the demand for them, and their timely and proper use in places where they are most needed.