French Embassy Hosts Advocates for Global Fund Replenishment

In Kenya, Nigeria by Fiona Ip

Top photo: Ambassador Aline Kuster-Ménager (fourth from left) and Faith Ndungu, AHF Kenya (third from left) pose for a photo with other delegates at the French Embassy in Nairobi.

With the Sixth Replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria slated for this October in Lyon, France, civil society members joined donors, government representatives, media and others at the French Embassy in Nairobi on July 25 to highlight the Fund’s lifesaving work and press for a successful replenishment later this year.

Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN) Africa and GFAN member AHF Kenya collaborated with representatives from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Ambassador Aline Kuster-Ménager, the event’s host and the French ambassador in Kenya and Somalia, to organize the meeting which featured an interactive panel for discussion.

“This initiative was the first of its kind and critical for showing the vital impacts the Fund has made,” said AHF Kenya Program Development and Advocacy Manager Faith Ndungu. “Thanks to the Global Fund, HIV patients in Kenya have gone from having no access to treatment to over 1 million people receiving antiretroviral therapy. Unfortunately, the HIV/AIDS response is now at a critical stage due to severe funding gaps—Kenya is relying on a successful Sixth Replenishment to sustain the progress we’ve made and scale up interventions.”

The Global Fund has proven itself as the world’s best mechanism to fight our most deadly infectious diseases. Thanks to the Fund’s support over 27 million lives have been saved since 2002. Over 17.5 million people have received lifesaving treatment for HIV, and in 2017 alone, 5 million people were treated for TB and 197 million mosquito nets were distributed to fight malaria.

“If the world doesn’t step up now and ensure the Global Fund has the money it needs to continue its work, millions of people will continue to die from treatable conditions,” added Ndungu. “The Fund is already facing a shortfall of $1 billion, so the worst-case scenario is wealthy donor countries not opening their pocketbooks with generous donations. Future generations should not be burdened with these epidemics, and right now, we have the power to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

AHF has advocated for several years through its Fund the Fund campaign to boost Global Fund contributions. We invite you to learn more about this critical issue by watching a short video here, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay updated on our advocacy efforts to Fund the Fund!

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