According to new reports published by the European HIV/AIDS Funders Group and Funders Concerned About AIDS, HIV/AIDS-related funding from U.S. and European donors fell to $612 million in 2010, down 7 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Produced with support from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the FCAAIDS report U.S. Philanthropic Support to Address HIV/AIDS in 2010 (60 pages, PDF) found that HIV/AIDS-related funding from U.S. donors declined from $492 million in 2009 to $459 million in 2010. Much of the decrease can be attributed to a reduction in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which represents 47 percent of all HIV/AIDS-related disbursements from U.S. funders. Generally speaking, HIV/AIDS-related funding from the foundation fluctuates due to the multiyear nature of its commitments and is expected to increase in 2011. However, disbursements from all other U.S. funders fell 2 percent from 2009 to 2010, due mostly to some funders shifting funding away from HIV-specific programs to more general sexual and reproductive health initiatives.

According to European Philanthropic Support to Address HIV/AIDS in 2010 (48 pages, PDF), a new report from the European Funders Group, funding from European donors declined some 6 percent over the same period, from $163 million in 2009 to $153 million in 2010. The report found that funding from donor governments also fell in 2010. UNAIDS estimates that the annual gap between needs and available resources is at least $6 billion.

"Even if the 2010 decrease in philanthropic funding for HIV is just a blip, every dollar lost enables new HIV infections, costs lives, can contribute to human rights violations, and stalls progress in the global AIDS response," said FCAAIDS executive director John Barnes. "To seize the opportunities now clearly in front of us to end this epidemic, it is critical that we continue to mobilize increased and strategic funding for AIDS."