The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria could soon face a cash crisis, due in part to the failure of countries to meet their funding promises for the current year.  The funding gap has been compounded by the Bush administration recently proposing to slash the U.S. contribution for 2005 to $200 million, from the current $550 million.

While pledges nearly match the $1.6 billion needed in 2004, resources will have to be massively scaled-up to meet next year's projected budget of nearly $3.6 billion, said Richard Feachem, executive director of the fund.

For the current fiscal year, Congress has allocated  a U.S. contribution of $550 million for the Fund, but the President slashed his request for next year to only $200 million.

The Global Fund is a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities -- a new approach to international health financing. The Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations, supporting their work through substantially increased funding.