BRUSSELS – The Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria held a two-day conference with
donors and other partners on how increased resources for the 2014-2016
period could dramatically alter the course of these
three infectious diseases and bring them completely under control.
Delegates to the meeting saw a
global needs assessment and heard presentations on new advances in
science and implementation that can increase the impact of Global Fund
investments to support partners fighting the three
diseases and essentially remove them as threats to global health.
Andris Piebalgs, Commissioner
for Development and Cooperation for the European Union, which hosted the
conference, called for more support from emerging countries and the
private sector. French Development Minister Pascal
Canfin, who also spoke, made a resounding call for an AIDS-free
generation.
The conference was also told by
health specialists that a big increase in impact could be achieved in
many countries by focusing efforts on “hot spots” in countries where
disease is most heavily concentrated, and by acting
before diseases grow out of control.
“If we don’t seize this moment,
we will be dealing with these diseases for generations,” said Mark
Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “These moments don’t come
very often. We can achieve a historic change in
the world and that is what we are on this planet to do.”
The Global Fund formulated a
needs assessment for 2014-2016 showing that raising US$15 billion, when
combined with funding from other sources, would have a transformative
effect on the incidence and death rates of HIV,
TB and malaria. The assessment was drawn up with technical partners at
WHO, UNAIDS, Roll Back Malaria and the Stop TB partnership.
But in order to persuade
traditional donors to sustain their support for the Global Fund,
emerging economies and the private sector need to bear a larger share of
the cost of fighting disease, said Mr Piebalgs. “We need
to look at reviving the initial idea of leveraging traditional with
other contributions and vice-versa,” he said.
He also hailed a cultural shift
from an emergency response to a more sustainable footing. “The
medium-term goal is the integration of the response to these three
diseases into existing national and international systems,
particularly in sustainable, comprehensive and nationally owned
strategies.”
The Global Fund recently
launched a new funding model, which encourages and supports countries in
integrating their HIV, TB and malaria investments into the overall
national health strategies and strengthening their health
systems.
The EU Commission has
contributed US$1.48 billion to the Global Fund since its creation in
2002, making it the sixth largest donor to the organization. The Global Fund and its partners
estimate that together with other funding, including an estimated US$37
billion from domestic sources in implementing countries and US$24
billion from other international sources, a US$15
billion contribution to the Global Fund would allow the collective work
to address nearly 90 percent of the global resource needs to fight the
three diseases, estimated at a total of US$87 billion.
Forecasts presented to the
conference showed that, with adequate funding, more than 18 million
adults eligible for treatment could be on antiretroviral therapy by
2016, up from 8 million now; almost 6 million people could
be saved from TB; and 196,000 more lives could be saved every year from
malaria.
Collective efforts would also
prevent more than one million new HIV infections each year, thereby
saving billions of dollars in care and treatment costs in the long-term.
Rwanda, which has achieved
universal access to HIV treatment was an example of what could be
achieved with judicious use of resources for health programs, said Anita
Asiimwe, Rwanda’s Minister of State in charge of public
health. “The secret is to work when there is a great need.”
French Development Minister
Pascal Canfin struck an optimistic note in an upbeat address to the
conference, saying that the idea of an AIDS-free generation was a mere
pipe dream when the Global Fund came into existence
more than ten years ago. “We want this dream to become a reality,” he
concluded.
Canfin also said it was a
paradox that many of the Global Fund’s biggest financial backers faced
unprecedented financial problems at a time when scientific progress was
giving the world the means to control the three
diseases.
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The
Global Fund is an international financing institution dedicated to
attracting and disbursing resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS,
TB
and malaria. The Global Fund promotes partnerships between governments,
civil society, the private sector and affected communities, the most
effective way to help reach those in need. This innovative approach
relies on country ownership and performance-based
funding, meaning that people in countries implement their own programs
based on their priorities and the Global Fund provides financing where
verifiable results are achieved.
Since
its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has supported more than 1,000
programs in 151 countries, providing AIDS treatment for 4.2 million
people,
anti-tuberculosis treatment for 9.7 million people and 310 million
insecticide-treated nets for the prevention of malaria. The Global Fund
works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral
organizations to supplement existing efforts in dealing
with the three diseases.
For more information, please contact:
ANDREW HURST
Head of Media and Translations
Mobile: +41795616807
E-mail:
Andrew.hurst@theglobalfund.org
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