Global Fund has proven its effectiveness and received nearly US 13 billion for its work over the next three years.
Alliance for Public Health greatly welcomes the news which defines the response to AIDS, tuberculosis and Malaria for the three next years – donors pledged over US$12.9 billion to support the work of the Global Fund to end HIV, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics and transform the lives of millions.
Photo Marco Urban/Friends of the Global Fund Europe
“We congratulate Global Fund’s leadership – Board Chairman Norbert Hauser and Executive director Mark Dybul – for establishing true global partnership which resulted in the increased governments’ pledges across the world. Global Fund proved to the donors its leadership in achieving incredible results and saving lives!” – said Andriy Klepikov, executive director of Alliance for Public Health. – “Being an implementer, we have demonstrated to the donors the convincing results of the Global Fund investment to Ukraine: the epidemic here is getting under control, HIV and TB incidence are declining.
The Global Fund funding in so critical for saving lives millions of people, and for protecting even more – especially key populations – from getting infected. This task is even harder in the context of challenging operating environment. Despite all the challenges, Alliance for Public Health continues to work in the conflict affected areas in Eastern Ukraine and in the annexed Crimea, supporting vitally important services there.
It should be acknowledged that the great work was done prior to the Replenishment conference resulted in its success. One of the recent events called “15 Years of Achievement. 15 Years ahead” was conducted on September 6 in Berlin by the Friends of the Global Fund Europe with the goal to support a fully funded Global Fund. Andriy Klepikov, Executive Director of Alliance for Public Health, presented Ukraine there with the case “Upholding health services in modern armed conflicts”. Eastern Europe and Central Asia remains the region with growing HIV epidemic, and with severe MDR TB burden, and Global Fund’s funding is really critical for our region.
Huge efforts were done by civil society organizations across the world in mobilizing governments’ contributions. Three civil society delegations – Developing Country NGO Delegation, Communities Delegation and Developed Country NGO Delegation – and their respective constituency members contributed a lot to the successful replenishment results. Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN) led on supporting the voices for the field – from the affected communities.
Anton Basenko is one of them. “The Global Fund has already saved 20 million lives (mine included) and with this money will save 8 million more and will prevent 300 million new infections. But such a successful result would not be possible without the global advocacy efforts of partners, one of which is the Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN), in the Speakers Bureau of which, thanks to Alliance nomination, I was honored to represent the PWID/PLWH community of the EECA region as a person, on whose life the Global Fund programs had a vital impact, calling the governments of different countries to fully fund the Global Fund”, stated the activist Anton Basenko.
According to the Global Fund “The Replenishment Conference hosted by Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau in Montreal, raised nearly $1 billion more than the previous replenishment conference in 2013, and benefitted from participation by leaders from countries all over the world, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The United States led the pledging with US$4.3 billion, approximately one-third of total funding. The United Kingdom pledged £1.1 billion, the second-largest pledge for this replenishment period; France pledged €1.08 billion, maintaining their position as the second-largest donor to the Global Fund overall. Germany pledged €800 million, a 33 percent increase”. More information can be obtained from The Global Fund’s official press release on the replenishment.