Sustainability of HIV/AIDS funding

According to a new report from Medecins Sans Frontieres, the Global Fund is considering canceling its next funding round for HIV/AIDS research because of a major deficit in donations. The report also announced that the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is planning to "'flat-fund' its programs for the next two years, reneging on promises made last year to support expanded treatment access."

At a meeting in Washington, DC this morning on the economic, political, scientific and ethical costs of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, Robert Hecht, the managing director of Results for Development, estimated the impact of these cutbacks could be huge. External support has become the source of more than 85% of HIV/AIDS funding in some countries, he said, and the funding strategy is in desperate need of an overhaul.

In the face of waning international support and the sorry state of the economy, is HIV/AIDS research doomed?

-Katherine Bagley
Editorial Intern, The Scientist

Tony Fauci spoke at the same forum as Hecht, in which he recounted the cumulative $42 billion that NIH has spent on HIV research. It remains ~11% of the NIH budget. So that is not exactly "doom."

Bob Roehr