World: Dirk Niebel releases 100 million euros for the Global Fund

16.11.2012 -Geneva, Berlin – On Thursday evening, after appointing a new Executive Director and deciding on a new funding model, the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) successfully concluded the reforms first suggested by German De­vel­op­ment Minister Dirk Niebel.

Starting in February 2013, Mark Dybul, the former head of the American aids programme PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), will take over the leadership of the GFATM Secretariat in Geneva. By appointing Dybul the Global Fund has sent a clear signal that tackling AIDS will continue to be a key aspect of its work.

In Berlin, Germany's De­vel­op­ment Minister Dirk Niebel said: "By choosing Mark Dybul the Board of the Global Fund has successfully brought to an end the process of reforms carried out over the last year. One of the most important tasks for the new Executive Director will be to intensify the dialogue with partner countries in order to support and expand their efforts in the fight to control AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and also build up strong health systems. I assure him that he has my full support for this and other tasks ahead and look forward to a successful co­op­er­a­tion partnership."

The Board's decision is the result of an exemplary selection process that was led by an independent committee. The selection committee consisted of three donor representatives, three representatives of the Fund's partner countries, and three independent experts. The former BMZ Parliamentary State Secretary Dr Uschi Eid (from Germany's Bündnis 90/Die Grünen party), who was proposed by German De­vel­op­ment Minister Dirk Niebel, was one of the committee members. "With her many years of in­ter­na­ti­o­nal experience in the field of de­vel­op­ment policy and her integrity Uschi Eid contributed substantially to the successful work carried out by the committee. I offer her my sincere thanks for her contribution," said Niebel in Berlin.

Another outcome of the Board meeting in Geneva was the adoption of the new funding model, which Germany was involved in developing over the last few months. The new model enables the Global Fund to align itself with countries' internal processes – in line with the Busan Process – and to once again focus more strongly on the countries with the greatest need, whilst encouraging partner countries to step up their own efforts.

German De­vel­op­ment Minister Dirk Niebel has therefore decided to release the next German payment to the Global Fund worth 100 million euros. This brings the German government's contributions to the Global Fund in 2012 to a total of 200 million euros.