The impact of the Global Fund’s withdrawal on harm reduction programmes: A case study from Serbia

Since its launch in 2002, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has played a unique and indispensable role in responding to the HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). Between 2002 and 2012, the Global Fund approved an estimated $1.8 billion dollars for programs across the region. Unlike traditional “topdown” funding models, it took a countrydriven approach, asking governments to work in collaboration with those most affected by the diseases to determine the best responses for their contexts. In EECA, where “key populations” like people who use drugs are disproportionally affected by HIV, this led to the allocation of an estimated $263 million dollars for harm reduction programs between 2002 and 2009.

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