A Quarter for Prevention? Global Fund Investments in HIV Prevention Interventions in Generalized African Epidemics

Abstract

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that ending AIDS by 2030 will cost $25 billion a year. About a quarter (26%) of this amount is required for HIV prevention. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a major financier of African HIV responses and a vital source of prevention investments. A search was performed for Global Fund funding requests and signed grants from a sample of African countries over the 2014-2016 funding cycle to see if the Global Fund is investing " a quarter for prevention " . Funding requests were accessed for 23 countries and signed grants were accessed for 15 countries. Some documents were not publicly available. Among the funding requests examined, an average of 16% was dedicated to HIV prevention. Wealthier countries requested more money for HIV prevention, as did countries with greater numbers of annual new infections. Of the grant agreements examined, an average of 15% of the total funding invested was dedicated to HIV prevention. For the Global Fund to achieve its HIV prevention targets in its new strategy (2017-2022) it must increase its investments in HIV prevention in Africa from current levels towards the UNAIDS benchmark of 26%.