Global Fund seeks to cast wider AIDS finance net

Last Updated: 2006-06-29 10:20:25 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Andrew Quinn

JOHANNESBURG - Rich nations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia need to contribute more to finance the global fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, where cash is still desperately short, a finance body said on Thursday.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which relies primarily on government contributions, is in a precarious financial position and in need of almost $1 billion to meet existing commitments, according to a Fund report.

"Getting money out of even the richest governments in the world is not an easy task," Fund communication director Jon Liden told a news conference in Johannesburg.

"The precariousness of our funding underlines that the Global Fund is an experiment."

The Fund, which this weekend begins a new round of discussions with major donors at a meeting in Durban, claims it is making progress against some of the world's biggest killers, including huge jumps in the number of people getting AIDS drugs and the distribution of millions of anti-malaria mosquito nets.

Founded 4.5 years ago to serve as the primary financing vehicle for efforts to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic as well as tuberculosis and malaria, the Fund has committed a total of $5.4 billion in grants -- primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.

Fund officials said it has clear evidence the programs are working, with more than half a million people now receiving antiretroviral drugs for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and 1.4 million people being treated for tuberculosis thanks to its funding.

The Fund is also responsible for purchasing millions of insecticide-treated bed nets, a cheap and effective way to prevent mosquito-borne transmission of malaria, which kills at least one million people each year.

"These results demonstrate that where countries are given the resources they need, progress...is possible," Fund Executive Director Richard Feachem said in a statement. "It shows that with sufficient global resources, we can drive back this scourge."

FIGHTING FOR CASH

Since its inception, however, the Fund has struggled to persuade rich nations to contribute -- a battle that continues, despite repeated calls to action from groups such as the Group of Eight developed countries.

Liden said that while the United States, which has its own multi-billion dollar AIDS relief plan, and Britain have made good on most of their commitments, other countries are lagging.

"The European Union as a whole could do more ... (and) the Middle East sits on a fair amount of money," Liden said, adding that these governments, along with Japan and rapidly developing countries in Asia, could be new sources for Fund finances.

Brian Brink, chief medical officer at South African mining giant Anglo American and an alternate member of the Fund's board, said major corporations also needed to contribute far more to the Fund, which was envisioned as a public-private partnership.

"We certainly are looking to get a more involved private sector," said Brink, who is often credited with making Anglo American into a role model for companies fighting HIV/AIDS in their workforces.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Most employers cutting retiree health care: study

Last Updated: 2006-06-28 15:40:48 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Kim Dixon

CHICAGO - Most U.S. employers are planning to further scale back health benefits offered to retirees, as companies struggle with the upward march in the cost of medical care and weigh increased contributions from government's Medicare program, a survey found.

Ninety-five percent of the mostly Fortune 500 companies polled expect to further restrict their retiree health plans over the next 5 years, and 14 percent plan to stop providing coverage entirely, the survey of 163 companies by benefits consultants Watson Wyatt found.

Employers have been exiting the retiree health business for a decade-and-a-half, amid rapid inflation in the cost of health care and increasing mobility of workers. But some fear the pace will quicken amid recent changes that boost benefits provided by Medicare, the government's health insurance program for the nation's 43 million elderly and disabled people.

"There is definitely more change in the air now that Medicare Part D has come into play. There are fewer companies that are not planning on doing anything at all," said Cara Jareb, director of retiree medical at Watson Wyatt. "The willingness to eliminate the benefit is clearly increasing."

Changes in the Medicare program include adding prescription drug benefits, known as Medicare Part D. Experts fear that with a richer government benefit, employers would be more likely to stop offering coverage.

About a third of U.S. employers offered current workers retiree coverage in 2005, down from about two thirds in 1988, according to a recent study by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

According to Standard & Poor's, plans for retiree benefits at S&P 500 companies, excluding pensions, were underfunded by $321 billion, meaning promises to retirees are only 22 percent funded.

EMPLOYERS WEIGH EXITING

About three-quarters of U.S. companies polled are accepting a Medicare subsidy from the government intended to keep employers in the business of helping workers defray health costs when they retire.

But most are skimming the benefits they do offer. A quarter of employers are tightening eligibility for current workers, and a similar amount are offering more expensive plans.

About 40 percent of employers said they believed the best way to solve their retiree health cost problem is to exit it altogether, although most continued to offer benefits because of practical considerations, the study found.

The same amount, about 40 percent, said taking the government subsidy is the best way to keep costs down. Jareb said it showed that even though companies might think exiting the business would help with costs, most are unlikely to do it at this point.

"In essence the numbers indicate that -- whether due to employee relations, benefits philosophy or collective bargaining -- exiting retiree heath is not a viable option for the majority of employers" the study said.

(Additional reporting by Emily Chasan in New York and Joanne Kenen in Washington)

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.