[stop-imf] Global Fund Debt Conversion- Additional Millions Available to Fight AIDS, TB, & Malaria

[Robert Weissman]

http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/Global_Fund_Debt_Conversion.cfm


        *Global Fund Debt Conversion*

A new debt conversion mechanism that could release millions in urgently
needed funds to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in developing
countries is described in a July 2005 report by the Global AIDS Alliance
and Advocacy International.

Known as Global Fund Debt Conversion (GFDC), the new mechanism would
convert the foreign debt owed by poor countries into investments in
local prevention, treatment, and care programs approved by the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

"This mechanism is an ideal, relatively painless way for western
governments to live up to their promises to the developing world."

//=97Ann Pettifor, Director, ///Advocacy International/
<http://www.advocacyinternational.co.uk>//, and lead author of the
Global Fund Debt Conversion report//

Additionally, under the GFDC plan participating debtor nations would
avoid the negative consequences to their credit standing within the
global economy that sometimes result from more traditional debt
cancellation.

"The Global Fund is likely to fall between $3 and $4 billion short of
the $7.8 billion in total funding required to renew existing grants and
complete new rounds from 2005 to 2007. We believe the GFDC mechanism has
significant potential for mobilizing the funds needed to scale up
effective prevention, treatment, and care programs, including programs
for orphaned and vulnerable children. It will also enable poor countries
to devote more of their own resources to coping with the devastating
epidemics of HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria." //=97Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive
Director, Global AIDS Alliance//

The report was based on a six-month feasibility study of seven debtor
countries that have successfully implemented Global Fund programs and
are making significant investments in healthcare. As a result, the study
recommended Indonesia, Peru, Pakistan, and Nigeria as the most viable
countries for initial implementation of the GFDC mechanism.

=93This report shows the tremendous potential of debt conversion to
release resources that countries heavily burdened by the three diseases
could use to save lives. It=92s the type of innovative funding approach
that would be welcomed by the Global Fund.=94 //=97Dr. Richard Feachem,
Executive Director, ///Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria/
<http://www.theglobalfund.org>

The report=92s recommendations include establishment of a pilot program
for the GFDC, and creation of an advocacy program, including a campaign
to expand the categories of debt eligible for conversion. In addition,
further analysis is planned to assess whether the GFDC mechanism would
be feasible in other Global Fund recipient countries.

"As we have seen over the years, debt relief can be an innovative tool
to generate additional funding for AIDS in developing countries. In
Uganda, the first country to benefit from debt relief, the money freed
up from debt cancellation was used to strengthen its national AIDS plan,
which ultimately succeeded in reversing HIV infection rates. We welcome
the development of a new debt conversion mechanism, which could be
another effective way of mobilizing additional resources for reversing
the AIDS epidemic in debtor countries." //=97Dr. Peter Piot, Executive
Director, ///Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)/
<http://www.unaids.org>

The report was produced as a collaboration between the Global AIDS
Alliance, Advocacy International, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and
Malaria, and UNAIDS. Additional support for the study was provided by
The Ford Foundation and The Dorothy Ann Foundation.

Click here to download a PDF file of the full report
<http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/docs/GFDC_Report_final_PDF.pdf>.

Click here to read the Global Fund's press release on the new Global
Fund Debt Conversion report
<http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/media_center/press/news_050726.asp>.

To request a hard copy of the report, please contact Cathy Lemp at
clemp@globalaidsalliance.org <mailto:clemp@globalaidsalliance.org> or
write to us at:

Global Fund Debt Conversion
c/o Global AIDS Alliance
1225 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 4th Floor
Washington, DC 20036

**Other materials related to Global Fund Debt Conversion (listed in
chronological order):**

=B7 Report on the Global Fund's Partnership Forum
<http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/about/forum/report/>, July 2004. This
report includes the suggestion that the Global Fund consider debt swaps
or debt conversion within its proposed new resource mobilization strategy.

=B7 Debt-for-AIDS Swaps
<http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/docs/UNAIDS_debt_for_AIDS_swaps.pdf>,
UNAIDS Policy Information Brief, February 2004.

=B7 Letter from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
<http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/docs/Kofi_Annan_debt_conversion_26Nov03.=
pdf>,
November 26, 2003. This letter endorses the concept of using debt
conversion to leverage additional resources for AIDS, TB, and malaria
programs.

=B7 Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo Endorses Debt-for-AIDS Swaps
<http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/uploaded_files/092203_un_panel.pd=
f>,
U.N. General Assembly on HIV/AIDS, Informal Panel Discussion, September
22, 2003. See pages 26-28 of this Kaiser Family Foundation transcript.

=B7 Filling the Funding Gap: A Proposal to Convert Debt Payments to Combat
HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
<http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/docs/Debt_conversion_Nigeria.doc>,
Report by Dr. Ibrahim Atta, Civil Society Consultative Group on HIV/AIDS
in Nigeria, Kwesi Owusu, Southern Links, and Paul Zeitz, Global AIDS
Alliance, October 5, 2002.

=B7 Excerpts on Nigeria's Proposal to Convert Debt to Combat HIV/AIDS
<http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/docs/CSIS_Nigeria_Debt_Conversion_Oct_20=
02.doc>,
Center for Strategic & International Studies, October 3, 2002. See pages
7-8 for an endorsement of debt conversion by Jendayi Frazer, former
National Security Director Director of African Affairs and current U.S.
Ambassador to South Africa.

=B7 A bold proposal for poor African nations: Forget the debt
<http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/Boston_Globe_August_4_2002.cfm>,
Boston Globe, August 4, 2002.

=B7 AIDS, Poverty Reduction and Debt Relief: A Toolkit for Mainstreaming
HIV/AIDS Programmes into Development Instruments
<http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/docs/UNAIDS_poverty_debt_toolkit.pdf>,
UNAIDS and The World Bank, March 2001.

=B7 A Review of Experiences in Integrating An Expanded HIV/AIDS Response
to the Debt Relief Process in Africa: 1999-2000
<http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/docs/Response_to_Debt_Relief_Process.pdf=
>,
A discussion paper presented at the UNAIDS Workshop on the Role of Debt
Relief in Financing National HIV/AIDS Programs, Paul S. Zeitz, November
2000.

=B7 Exchanging Debt for Health in Africa: Lessons from Ten Years of
Debt-for-Development Swaps
<http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/docs/HIID_Debt_for_Health.pdf>,
Harvard Institute for International Development, A discussion paper by
Sydney Rosen, Jonathon Simon, Donald Thea, and Paul Zeitz, November 1999.

__________________________________________

//"The world's response to AIDS has gathered such//

//strength that for the first time ever we have a real//

//opportunity to get ahead of this epidemic."//

**Dr. Peter Piot--18 July 2005**

www.globalaidsalliance.org <http://www.globalaidsalliance.org>