Rise in global HIV/AIDS donations - UNAIDS

International funding to tackle the global HIV/AIDS pandemic is increasing, according to a new study released by the UN on Thursday.

Titled Analysis of aid in support of HIV/AIDS control, 2000-2002, it presents the first comprehensive overview of aid allocations to AIDS activities by donor and recipient countries.

The report by UNAIDS and the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD's) Development Assistance Committee (DAC), examining aid efforts of major bilateral and multilateral donors, said that US $2.2 billion was allocated in 2002 to combat the pandemic in the developing world.

According to the figures, a 60 and 64 percent increase was recorded respectively in multilateral and bilateral aid over three years from 2000.

Bilateral aid rose steadily from $822 million in 2000 to $1.1 billion in 2001 and $1.35 billion in 2002, while multilateral aid rose from $314 million in 2000 to $460 million in 2002, and total contributions to the Global AIDS Fund reached $917 million by the end of 2002.

Between 2000 and 2002, donors worked with 140 recipient countries to tackle the pandemic, concentrating the majority of their aid efforts on 25 countries - 10 of which were in sub-Saharan Africa.

The largest bilateral donor, averaging $793 million per year, was the US, followed by the UK at $337 million, Japan at $161 million and the Netherlands at $135 million.

The International Development Association of the World Bank was the largest multilateral donor $237 million, followed by UNAIDS with $88 million and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) with $44 million.

Released ahead of the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, next week, the report noted that donations were funding HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, treatment and care services, as well as social and legal assistance for people affected by the pandemic.