“The Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria] is asking for $15 billion for the next three years, of which the U.S. is asked to contribute $5 billion,” Taufiqur Rahman, an international health specialist, writes in The Hill’s “Congress Blog.” “So far, the U.K., France, Japan, Germany, Scandinavian countries, and the Gates Foundation have made major commitments and increased their contributions,” he notes, adding, “While the rich world has a responsibility to provide funds and technical assistance to fight diseases to save lives in low-income countries, the developing countries must also have a similar responsibility toward their citizens.”

“Many low-income countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East are also taking steps to contribute from their own resources,” but “[a]s of now, only six countries: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda and Zambia have met … a commitment to cover 15 percent of health care costs from their own resources,” Rahman continues. “Any investment in the Global Fund must be conditional on two actions: (i) prepare the low- and middle-income countries to assume more financial responsibilities for their programs, and (ii) support and facilitate new, quality-assured products [such as medicines and diagnostics] to enter the developing countries’ markets,” he states. “We should fund the Global Fund, no doubt about it,” he adds, concluding, “Our resources are finite but global collaboration can be limitless” (11/20).