Group of Eight Commits to Increase AIDS Funding by US$ 60 billion

Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) today announced plans to increase funding for AIDS to at least US$ 60 billion over the coming years, and invited other donors to contribute as well. This represents the largest commitment to increase funding for AIDS in the history of the epidemic. The announcement was made this morning at the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.

This funding includes the recent commitment by US President Bush to double US funding for AIDS to US$ 30 billion over the next five years. In 2005, global funding for AIDS was limited to US$ 8 billion. According to the Joint Untied Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), over US$ 18 billion is required in 2007 for an effective global response to the epidemic.

The increase of funding was announced as part of the G8 Summit Declaration on Growth and Responsibility in Africa. While the funding is not clearly earmarked for Africa, it is expected that the majority of resources will be used to scale-up progress towards prevention, treatment and care in Africa, which is hardest-hit by the AIDS epidemic.

The G8 also reaffirmed their commitment to scaling up towards "universal access" to com-prehensive HIV prevention, treatment and care by 2010 and recognised "the significant progress made by countries on target setting and planning." In Ukraine, the National Coordination Council has endorsed ambitious national targets for universal access on AIDS, which now must be translated into a comprehensive national plan.