12 November 2009 | Addis Ababa -- The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s Board of Directors has approved 34 TB proposals, with the highest level of funding to date -- up to $US 1.5 billion over five years -- in Round 9.
This round provides one-third more funding for TB than did Round 8. TB proposals had a success rate of 61%, compared to 47% for HIV proposals at and 55% for malaria.
"This is a great moment for all those who work on TB control. We are grateful to the Global Fund for this strong show of support and applaud all those engaged in developing so many successful proposals. This is a real booster and we will work even more to improve this excellent performance further in the future," said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Stop TB Department.
WHO and seven other Stop TB Partners supported all but three countries for the application process, and this support was coordinated by TBTEAM, which also developed planning tools used by virtually all applicants. There was a special focus on addressing weaknesses in previous TB proposals, particularly poor description of linkages between all components of the Stop TB Strategy and budget requests.
Round 9 will provide for three times as much funding for drug-resistant TB as the previous round. The funding will support measures including securing adequate laboratory facilities and infection control measures and prevention of further emergence of drug resistance by ensuring that the essential elements of DOTS are in place.
"We congratulate TBTEAM and all the experts who assisted in the entire proposal process, including identification of appropriate country needs, establishment of a sound budgeted plan to answer those needs and the actual writing," said Dr Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership.
Overall for this Round the Board made a two-year commitment of US$2.4 billion for all three diseases, and in principal approximately US$ 7 billion over five years. The next round of grants will be launched in May 2010. This round of funding will be considered for approval at a Board meeting to be held some time between November 2010 and January 2011.