Giovanni Alemanno, the mayor of Rome, has published an open letter to Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy, urging the country to allocate promised funds to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. At the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, the country made a long-term commitment to support the Global Fund, but the Italian government withheld its 2009 and 2010 contributions. The money would supply antiretroviral treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS in developing nations. Alemanno’s letter directs local and international attention to Italy’s broken pledge to the Global Fund as scientists and advocates gather in Rome for the International AIDS Society conference.

To read the letter, click here.