Punishing Success? Explanation of Band 4 of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and its implications for Civil Society and Key Populations

Publisher: ICASO

A key feature of the NFM is the Country Band. All 123 eligible countries are grouped into one of four Bands based on disease burden and income level. Although Band 4 is the largest Band, comprising 55 countries, its overall share of funding is only 7%. This shift in distribution methodology appears to be predicated on the assumption that with Band 4 countries, previous investments have been in low impact interventions – the result: countries are penalized for having low or relatively low disease prevalence.This briefing paper is intended to help advocates better understand the country allocation methodology in general and the specificities of Band 4 in particular. It also outlines the implications of Band 4 classification for civil society and key populations, and provides advocacy entry points and recommendations for how the model can be improved.