Report of regional meeting on the role of WHO in supporting member countries in areas related to the global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a unique, public-private partnership and international financing institution dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria. The Global Fund provides funding in support of technically sound and cost-effective interventions for the prevention, treatment, care and support of persons infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Since its inception in 2002, the Global Fund has used a "roundsbased" model to approve funding. However, in the recent past, The Global Fund, under its reform process, designed a new application and renewal process as part of its 2012-2016 strategy. These changes will transform the funding model, which will be a dialogue-based process with countries, allowing more flexible, and predictable funding. The new approach will replace the annual rounds-based approach used to date. The WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia organized a meeting with WHO Representatives, WHO country office focal persons and concerned departments in the Regional Office to review the current role and supporting mechanism of WHO and to come up with a way forwards to assist Member countries in achieving Millennium Development Goals and to facilitate sustainability of these programmes. This report presents the synopsis of deliberations held at the consultation, as well as recommendations.