United Nations Radio

The Board of Directors of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's Board of Directors has approved grants of more than $2 billion to support programmes to fight these diseases.

These programmes are based on the needs and priorities identified by the countries receiving the funds.

The Global Fund has now approved more than US$18.4 billion for 144 countries since it was created in 2002.

The Global Fund also approved the roll-out in of the pilot phase of a facility to reduce prices for effective malaria medicines in nine African countries and Cambodia.

The project will be funded with more than $200 million from UNITAID, an international facility to purchase drugs launched by the United Nations in 2006, the United King and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Jocelyne Sambira, United Nations.
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