Canada, Most in G8 Slammed Over AIDS

Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, speaks during a press conference on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006 in Toronto. Lewis joined the Global Treatment Access Group and Make Poverty History Campaign in calling Prime Minister Stephen Harper to take decisive action in the fight against HIV/AIDS. (AP PHOTO/CP, Nathan Denette) (Nathan Denette - AP)

TORONTO -- Canada and most other members of the G8 are failing to meet their fair share of the cost of financing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Global AIDS Alliance said Thursday.

Only France is among the exclusive club of the world's wealthiest nations providing its fair share of the Global Fund's budget, executive director Dr. Paul Zeitz said in a teleconference held in advance of the 16th International AIDS Conference, which opens Sunday in Toronto.

"Canada is not meeting its commitments," Zeitz said, adding Canada's spending of about $223 million this year falls $53 million short of its fair share of the Global Fund's needs.

Other G8 partners are even further off the mark, he said.

There is a belief among AIDS activists that the new Conservative government would rather funnel funding directly to affected countries than pool it with funding contributed by other governments and charitable foundations, said Zeitz.

"It's my sense and the sense of the activists in Canada that we're collaborating with ... that this government is more keen on focusing its own effort through its own programs rather than working in partnership with an entity like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria," he said. "In general, wealthy governments like to control the money. They like to develop a program and bring it down to the country and plant their flag."

But having multiple donors, each requiring its own paperwork to ensure funds are being properly spent, puts a heavy and unnecessary burden on the countries receiving the assistance, Zeitz and others said during the briefing.

A record number of delegates were expected to attend the summit _ including Bill Gates and former U.S. President Bill Clinton. The conference will bring some 24,000 scientists, world leaders and others to Toronto starting on Sunday, although Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has declined an invitation and will instead send his health minister.