AHF Praises European Commission for €100M Increase in its Global Fund Contribution to €470M

In Global by AHF

AHF hopes the announcement serves as a catalyst for other donors to increase their own contributions to the lifesaving Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

LOS ANGELES (March 14, 2016) AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, today praised the European Commission (EC) for announcing that it will up European Union’s contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to €470 million for the 2017-2019 grant cycle, an increase of €100 million over the previous three-year period.

The announcement officially launches the fundraising period for the Global Fund, which will culminate in a pledging conference later this year at a yet to be determined location, according to an EC press release.

For the upcoming replenishment, the Global Fund set a target of $13 billion, which is $2 billion lower than the target for the preceding replenishment. In 2013, while fundraising for the 2014-2016 cycle, the Fund came up $3 billion short of the target.

The move by the EC will hopefully serve as an example and inspire European donors to strengthen their commitments to the Global Fund. Last year, AHF criticized Denmark after it took the unprecedented and alarming step of announcing that it would cut its contribution to the Global Fund by nearly $20 million, after years of strong support by the Nordic state.

“We applaud the European Commission for the substantial increase in its contribution to the Global Fund, despite the geopolitical challenges facing the region right now,” said Loretta Wong, Senior Director of Global Advocacy and Policy at AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “The EC understands that the spread of infectious diseases is interwoven with migration and political stability. Therefore, now is the time to scale up, not down, the global response to AIDS, TB and malaria. We hope this announcement will serve as a catalyst for other donors to announce large increases in their contributions.”

The Global Fund is the largest multilateral funder of the response to the three epidemics. It provides lifesaving antiretroviral treatment to 8.6 million people, TB testing and treatment for 15 million and has distributed 600 million anti-malarial nets. Its continued success and sustainability will be closely tied to the outcome of this year’s replenishment.

“We are at a definitive point in the global fight on AIDS; this fact is borne out by the health statistics and real-life circumstance on the ground,” said Terri Ford, AHF Chief of Global Advocacy and Policy. “More people than ever are accessing treatment, but the gaps are still immense. We routinely hear of stockouts of essential supplies like test kits, condoms and drugs around the world. If we want to beat AIDS, this cannot be allowed to happen, because the alternative would be the resurgence of the epidemic that we have fought so hard to contain and reverse. The world must come together and scale up funding in a big way – particularly the donor countries that have the resources to do more, such as China, Germany and Japan.”

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