The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria urged donors on Friday to pay up what they have pledged by the end of next month or risk seeing the United States cut short its contribution. The United States, the biggest contributor, has already paid $360 million this year but announced on Thursday it would not give a further $120 million it has promised unless other donors also fulfilled their pledges. Under U.S. law, Washington can only finance one third of the Geneva-based fund's budget, meaning the size of its contribution is dependant on other countries' donations. Global Fund spokesman Jon Liden said Italy in particular needed to meet its pledge or the fund risked missing its 2004 fund-raising goal. On Thursday, Randall Tobias, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, told donors to cough up by September 30 or Washington would withhold further funding. The date was an extension of an earlier July 31 deadline. The Global Fund, set up in 2002 as the brainchild of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, has so far committed $3 billion to over 300 programmes worldwide. It funds projects to combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, three infectious diseases that kill nearly six million people each year. --More 1935 Local Time 1635 GMT
