The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (often called The Global Fund or GFATM) is an international financing organization that aims to "[a a]ttract and disburse additional resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. " A public–private partnership, the organization has its secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization began operations in January 2002. Microsoft founder Bill Gates was one of the first private foundations among many bilateral donors to provide seed money for the project. The Global Fund is the world's largest financier of anti-AIDS, TB and malaria programs and at the end of 2010 has approved funding of USD 21.7 billion that supports more than 600 programs in 150 countries. According to the organization, it has financed the distribution of 160 million insecticide-treated nets to combat malaria, provided anti-tuberculosis treatment for 7.7 million people, and provided AIDS treatment for some three million people, saving 6.5 million lives. In 2009, the Fund accounted for around 20 percent of international public funding for HIV, 65 percent for tuberculosis, and 65 percent for malaria. The Global Fund is a financing mechanism rather than an implementing agency. This means that monitoring of programs is supported by a Secretariat of approximately 600 staff (as of 2011) in Geneva. Implementation is done by Country Coordinating Mechanisms, which are committees consisting of local stakeholder organizations in-country that include some or all of government, NGO, UN, faith-based and private sector actors. This has kept the organization smaller than other international bureaucracies, but also given rise to concern over its capacity to ensure appropriate use of its funds. It has also raised concerns about conflict of interest, as some of the bodies who sit on the CCMs also receive money from them.