1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Helping Hand

DW staff (sp)September 27, 2007

A two-day donor conference opens in Berlin on Thursday, Sept. 27, aimed at helping the Global Fund better combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by using debt relief to improve healthcare systems in developing nations.

A close-up of a mosquito
Malaria kills more than 1 million people each year, over 90 percent of them in AfricaImage: dpa

The executive director of the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine, said on Wednesday that he hoped the international donor conference would raise a total of at least $8 billion (5.7 billion euros) for the period between 2008 and 2010.

Some 6 million people worldwide are estimated to die each year of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, all three of which can be treated.

The Global Fund, established by the Group of Eight highly industrialized nations (G8) and the UN, estimates that it has saved some 2 million lives since it was set up in 2002 to raise, manage and distribute resources to fight the three infections.

The organization finances two-thirds of all worldwide funding against tuberculosis and malaria and one-fifth of all resources to fight AIDS.

Germany pledges 800 billion euros

The Global Fund donor conference in Berlin, which will be opened by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, is the second of its kind. In June this year, G8 nations meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany, provisionally allocated a total of 44 billion euros to curb the three diseases.


Access to retroviral drugs remains a challenge for HIV-infected patients in AfricaImage: AP

Kazatchkine said Berlin had to send out a hopeful signal to fight these killer illnesses. Germany has said it plans to divert around 600 million euros by 2010 to the fund. The German government will provide an additional 200 million euros over the next four years, according to Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul.

A win-win situation

The extra funds will be used for the "Debt2Health" initiative, which involves providing debt relief for developing nations if they spend the money on domestic healthcare programs via the Global Fund.

"[The initiative] is so enlightening that you have to ask yourself why it's only happening now," said Wieczorek-Zeul.

On Wednesday, the German government signed an agreement with Indonesia that will forgive the country of 50 million euros worth of debt on the condition Jakarta ploughs half that amount into healthcare programs in the country. The pilot agreement will last for two years, after which countries such as Pakistan, Kenya and Peru will take part.

Wieczorek-Zeul thinks debt relief in exchange for better healthcare is a win-win situation for all involvedImage: picture-alliance/dpa

Wieczorek-Zeul said the agreement was a win-win situation for all involved.

"The Global Fund gets more planning security for its important work, Indonesia strengthens its healthcare system and Germany will stand up to its responsibility in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria," the minister said.

Germany must do more

Critics, however, said Germany could do more to help developing countries.

Karl Addicks, development expert for the opposition free-market liberal FDP, urged a better monitoring system be put in place at the Global Fund.

"There have been a few cases of betrayed trust and the use of medicines beyond their expiry date," he said.

Claudia Roth, head of the opposition Green party, said Germany also lagged far behind other industrialized nations when it came to aid for the Global Fund.

"The German government should learn from France and, for instance, introduce a tax on airline tickets to … support developing countries more strongly," said Roth.

Skip next section Explore more

Explore more

Show more stories
Skip next section DW's Top Story

DW's Top Story

Skip next section More stories from DW