Manila, June 7, 2006 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Asian Development Bank (ASX: ATB) has launched a package of 11 grant projects totaling US$8.17 million to step up the fight against HIV/AIDS in Asia.
Financed by a special grant fund established last year by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the projects will expand upon ADB's existing work on HIV/AIDS to develop stronger responses to the epidemic at the country and regional levels.
Asia is in the path of the global AIDS pandemic. With an estimated 8.3 million infected in the region (including about 1.1. million newly infected in 2005), the disease could prove devastating both socially and economically if its spread is not quickly checked.
"As a 2004 paper prepared jointly with UNAIDS showed, spending now on HIV prevention and AIDS care is justified by the high returns - both social and economic - that can be expected from the potential lives that will be saved from death and suffering," says Jacques Jeugmans, ADB Principal Health Specialist.
"With ADB's experience of working with a broad range of partners in developing approaches that are systematic and multisectoral, we are well placed to play an important role in identifying and disseminating good practices in the fight against AIDS."
SIDA signed with ADB the agreement to establish the cooperation fund in February 2005, with an initial commitment of $12.39 million equivalent for four years.
Open to all other funding agencies, the fund aims to expand and strengthen ADB's existing and planned AIDS related work, taking three broad approaches.
Expanding the knowledge base on HIV/AIDS by developing a regional database, information services, and reports on trends, risk behavior patterns, responses and economic impacts, and identifying and disseminating best practices from within and outside the region.
Strengthening the design and impact of HIV/AIDS elements in ADB projects, and engaging a broad range of NGOs and community-based organizations to conduct outreach and delivery of essential services to the poor and vulnerable, and those at high risk. For example, some $1.5 million of the budget will be for a project to promote NGO initiatives in preventing HIV/AIDS.
Supporting small projects to develop managerial skills in selected national and regional organizations to undertake effective interventions focused on high-risk groups. Skills, knowledge and staffing within ADB will also be strengthened.
In addition to the SIDA fund, donors replenishing ADB's concessional Asian Development Fund in 2004 earmarked 2% of ADF resources (about $140 million) for grant assistance targeting HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases in eligible countries.
Under ADF, projects will strengthen HIV/AIDS prevention in ADB projects, with physical infrastructure projects incorporating more comprehensive HIV/AIDS components, and increasing attention given to the issues of gender, human trafficking, and migration.
Contact
Graham Dwyer
Email: gdwyer@adb.org
Tel:+632 632 5253; +632 898 3413; +63 915 741 4363
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