AIDS status & challenges of the epidemic

5. What has been done in terms of funding and research?

• 5.1 What has been achieved in terms of HIV/AIDS funding?
• 5.2 What research efforts have been made?

5.1 What has been achieved in terms of HIV/AIDS funding?

The source document for this Digest states:

Estimated total annual resources available for AIDS, 1996-2005

Resource mobilization is one of the few specified targets for 2005 that the global community achieved. Financial resources for AIDS, including domestic public expenditure from governments, have increased significantly since 2001.

• There have been significant advances in recent years with regard to financing AIDS globally. Funds dedicated to responding to AIDS in low - and middle- income countries in 2005, US$ 8.3 billion (range of US$ 7.5 billion–US$ 8.5 billion) are well within the 2001 target range of US$ 7–US$ 10 billion for 2005.
• The global funding mechanism called for in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS resulted in the launch of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in December 2002. An estimated 20% of all international financing for HIV is currently channelled through the Global Fund, which disbursed an estimated US$ 1.1 billion in 2005. To date the Global Fund has approved a total of 350 grants to government and civil society partners and other recipient countries in 128 countries.
• The World Bank has also added significant support to HIV funding in low - and middle- income countries. By the end of 2005, the World Bank had committed a cumulative total of more than US$ 2.5 billion to HIV programmes.
• The United States President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief has also been a substantial addition to the AIDS funding arena, providing intensive assistance to 15 target countries and support to 100 more. It disbursed US$ 570.2 million to the AIDS response in 15 countries in 2004 and committed to an additional US$ 915.6 million in 2005.
• Despite the exponential increase in donor funding for AIDS over the years, however, bridging the gap between resource needs and resources available remains a challenge. Resource requirements in 2007 are estimated to be US$ 18.1 billion, while resources expected to be available for the same year are estimated at US$ 10 billion.
• Planning for the long-term response to AIDS increasingly requires more predictable and binding mechanisms for financial contributions from bilateral and multilateral donors and national governments.
• Major advances have been made in recent years in gathering data and tracking resources to better understand where support for AIDS is coming from and where it is going, but a clear challenge still exists to bridge the gap between resource requirements and resources available and to reform funding mechanisms.

Source & ©: UNAIDS  Report on the global AIDS epidemic: Executive summary, (2006),
The declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS: AIDS in conflict or disaster regions, Resources, p.16

For more information on this question, see:
 Chapter 03 Progress in countries, Resources, p.73,
of the full 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic  by UNAIDS

5.2 What research efforts have been made?

The source document for this Digest states:

The Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS urges strong and sustained research efforts to strengthen the search for a preventive vaccine and other new prevention tools. It also provides that all research protocols involving human subjects should be evaluated by an ethical review committee.

• Since the 2001 Special Session, momentum has increased in the field of research and development on vaginal microbicides to prevent HIV transmission.
  
  
  • Investment by public and philanthropic sectors in microbicide research and development has more than doubled, increasing from US$ 65 million in 2001 to an estimated US$ 163 million in 2005.
  • By early 2006, large-scale human trials had been initiated to assess the HIV prevention efficacy of microbicides, the female diaphragm and adult male circumcision.
• Funding for the development of preventive vaccines nearly doubled from US$ 327 million in 2000 to nearly US$ 630 million in 2005.
• Almost three-quarters (73%) of countries report having a policy requiring approval by an ethics review committee of all research protocols involving human subjects. This reflects the status quo compared to 2003.

Regarding the inclusion of people living with HIV and their caregivers in the review of research protocols, 71% rate national efforts as average or below average, with 31% of countries assessing national efforts as extremely poor.

Source & ©: UNAIDS  Report on the global AIDS epidemic: Executive summary, (2006),
The declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS: AIDS in conflict or disaster regions,
Research and Development, p. 15

For more information on this question, see:
 Chapter 03 Progress in countries, Research and development, p.72,
of the full 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic  by UNAIDS