The decision by the world’s largest donor to government agencies and NGOs that combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to freeze new funding for two years will in Cambodia have the biggest impact on the prevention, care and treatment of people with TB and HIV/AIDS, a senior health official said yesterday.

The fund pays for medicines for about 37,000 Cambodians who have HIV/AIDS, according to its last update on November 10, and it had already spent about 84 per cent of the US$381 million in grants earmarked for Cambodia between 2004 and 2015.

Tem Vra, program manager of the HIV/AIDS coordinating committee, said most funding for preventing HIV infection and providing care and treatment to those living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia came from the Global Fund.

On Wednesday, the Geneva-based fund, which draws from private and government sources, announced that it would freeze new grants for two years and replace its executive director. The announcement followed a review that began last March after reports of “grave misuse of its funds” in four African nations.

“This will have a big effect on Cambodia,” Tem Vra said, adding that NGOs and governmental agencies would have to start looking for new sources of funding.