$2.75bn to fight Aids, TB, malaria
2008-11-11 09:16
Special Report
Aids has now killed 25m people around the world, but the number of new infections is slowing sharply, the UN says.
New Delhi - The multilateral Global Fund said on Monday that it has approved $2.75bn in fresh grants over two years to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.
With the latest injection, total grants approved by the Geneva-based fund have increased to $14.4bn in 140 countries, the body said.
"This is the highest amount of new financing approved by the Global Fund ever," Rajat Gupta, chairperson of the fund's board said in a statement issued at the end of a two-day board meeting here.
The new funds will help in improving access to Aids treatment and prevention and help cut deaths from tuberculosis and malaria in half by 2015, Gupta said.
The Global Fund, created by the G8 group of industrialised nations in 2002, accounts for one quarter of all international donations to fight Aids, two-thirds for TB and three-quarters for malaria.
- AFP