AHF President Michael Weinstein announces AHF’s $10 million pledge at the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment conference.
Credits: Video footage, The Global Fund; photo, The Global Fund/Tim Knox.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria saw record-setting levels of support from the private sector at its Seventh Replenishment conference last week in New York, where AHF was on hand to announce a $10 million pledge to the world’s best financing mechanism for fighting infectious diseases.
“I am proud to add ten million dollars in support of the mission of the Global Fund, (…) which is unique among all global entities in recognizing the importance of NGOs and including us in their governance, and they are stronger because of it. It is for that reason that we pledge today,” said AHF President Michael Weinstein, who was invited to speak at the conference. “The Global Fund, under the leadership of Peter Sands, has a stellar record of fairly and effectively distributing funding with input from all constituencies. AHF believes that the Global Fund, based on its track record, is best positioned to make this happen, so we strongly urge all the donors and implementers to support the immediate expansion of the mandate of the Global Fund to encompass all infectious diseases.”
Donors, including wealthy G7 and G20 countries, gathered in New York on Sept. 21 to announce their commitments, with the final pledging total of $14.25 billion falling short of the Fund’s $18 billion target; however, the UK and Italy are expected to make their pledge in the coming weeks. AHF continues to call out China for its lack of Global Fund support and urges all donors to increase their commitments by 30% from the previous Replenishment.
“Six million people have died of COVID, and trillions of dollars of wealth have been destroyed. And yet we must have sessions such as this to beg the world community for their support,” added Weinstein in closing. “Supporting global health is not charity—it is essential to our collective security.”
AHF works in synergy with 31 Global Fund-supported countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe, by implementing HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment delivery, and advocacy programs and providing AHF Fund grants to assist other non-profit organizations. The $10 million pledge represents another facet of the collaboration with the Fund.
