Crs Report for Congress

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent foundation that seeks to attract and rapidly disburse new resources in developing countries aimed at countering the three diseases. The Fund is a financing vehicle, not an implementing agency. The origins of the Fund as an independent entity to fight the three diseases lie partly in a French proposal made in 1998, in ideas developed in the 106th Congress, and in recommendations made by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in April 2001. Though the Global Fund was established in January 2002, President Bush pledged $200 million to such a fund in May 2001. As of March 20, 2008, donors have pledged more than $19 billion to the Fund, of which nearly $10 billion has been paid. The funds have been used to support more than 500 grants totaling more than $10 billion for projects in 136 countries. Each year, the Fund awards grants through Proposal Rounds. The Fund launched its eighth Round on March 3, 2008. In 2005, the Fund approved Round 5 grants in two tranches, because initially there were insufficient donor pledges to approve all the recommended proposals. The Fund approved the …