At the meeting, Financing HIV and TB Services and Advocacy in Middle Income Countries: Developing an Action Plan, which was recently held in Amsterdam, civil society and community leaders from 35 countries called on international donors and implementing governments to meet their commitments to fund HIV and TB programs in middle-income countries.
Meeting participants are indignant with the reduction in program funding by USD 1.1 billion in 2015. The World Bank classification used by the Global Fund and other donors is based on a simplistic and crude per capita income estimate. According to experts, it is not appropriate for assessing health needs. “Middle income” countries are home to most people living in poverty and the majority of all people living with HIV and TB.
The consequences of funding cuts are evident in many countries where transitions have already taken place. For example, after the Global Fund stopped funding harm reduction programs in Romania, the percentage of new HIV infections related to injecting drug use rose from 4.2% in 2010 to 49.2% in 2013.
In Ukraine, Alliance for Public Health supported this call for action.
You can read the detailed text here.
To support the call, please send a request to mics-transitions@dgroups.org