Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 20, 2003

"It Starts with Us"
People Living with HIV/AIDS Launch a New Campaign to Save the Global Fund

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, May 20, 2003--The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is in jeopardy due to serious lack of financing. Ms. Philippa Lawson, representative of the infected and affected communities to the Board of the Global Fund, and the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) announce a grassroots campaign called, "It Starts with Us", aimed at HIV+ people worldwide to contribute to the Global Fund. In initiating the Global Fund, the G8 countries gave hope to the millions infected and affected by the three diseases. Yet due to the failure of these rich countries to donate their equitable share, the Global Fund currently lacks the $1.4 billion it needs to approve its third round of grants in October 2003.

"If we lose the Global Fund we are losing a critical opportunity to turn the tide of the HIV pandemic. It Starts with Us shows that people living with HIV/AIDS are doing their fair share. Now the donor countries and the private sector must immediately do theirs.", said Mr. Stuart Flavell, International Coordinator of GNP+, summing up the spirit behind the It Starts with Us campaign.

In addition to being an effort to help finance the Global Fund on an on-going basis, It Starts with Us is a political action meant to demonstrate the commitment of HIV+ people to the Global Fund. It Starts with Us ask HIV+ people to send as much cash directly to GNP+, be it one baht, two ringits, or three pesos, in time for the Global Fund Board meeting on June 3rd. By bringing a bag of money to the meeting, Ms. Lawson and her delegation intend to show the Global Fund Board, in a concrete and physical way, that the Global Fund matters to people living with HIV/AIDS.

The Global Fund, now two years old, is an innovative and independent public-private partnership designed to attract, manage, and disburse new sums of money for programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The Global Fund method is to finance technically sound and cost-effective interventions through a country-level grant application process that requires broad multi-sectoral participation of the public and private sectors. The Global Fund is currently grossly underfunded, despite having succeeded in giving life to high quality grants from 92 countries in its short existence. By 2005, thanks to the Global Fund: 500,000 people will begin HIV medication (this includes a six-fold increase in the number of people receiving HIV treatment in Africa); 500,000 children orphaned because of AIDS will receive support; 2 million people will receive TB treatment; and 20 million will benefit from treatment for malaria.

Details on where to send coins and bills for the It Starts with Us campaign are available on the GNP+ website. Outside the context of the June 3rd political action, donations can be sent directly to the Global Fund via the UN Foundation. It Starts with Us complements other efforts to support the Global Fund, such as the Fund the Fund campaign. Fund the Fund brings together major international and national non-governmental organizations and networks of people living with HIV/AIDS, including GNP+, to lobby and advocate for increased investment from governments in the Global Fund.

Note to Editors:
For further questions or interviews regarding It Starts with Us please call Mr. Stuart Flavell at +31.(0)20.423.4114 or send an e-mail to ic@gnpplus.net.

Press release issued by:
Jennifer M. Bushee, Communications Coordinator
Global Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+)
P.O. Box 11726
1001 GS Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Telephone: +31.(0)20.423.4114
Fax: +31.(0)20.423.4224
E-mail: news@gnpplus.net