A global health fund: a leap of faith?

A new global health fund is being set up to bridge the funding gap for the control of HIV infection and AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The fund is due to be established this year, but it is not yet clear exactly what it will support and how it will be run. The planning burden on developing countries could be increased by the fund if existing global health initiatives are not consolidated and simplified. Rich countries will need to make large, long term commitments to the fund if developing countries are to be successfully supported to sustain new, expensive treatment and preventive services