30th March 2022
The Global Fund Advocates Network Asia-Pacific (GFAN AP) with Activists’ Coalition on TB Asia- Pacific (ACT! AP), APCASO, Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM), Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV (APN+), Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW), Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN), Malaria Free Mekong, Network of Asian People Who Use Drugs (NAPUD), Youth LEAD and Youth Voices Count (YVC) alongside communities living with, affected by and/or vulnerable to HIV, TB and malaria and civil society in Asia-Pacific express our heartfelt appreciation to President Joe Biden for proposing to the United States (U.S.) Congress a commitment of US$2 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) for fiscal year 2023 and to match US$1 for every US$2 contributed by other donors. This sends a strong signal for an intended pledge of US$6 billion for the Seventh Replenishment.
As the largest donor and founding partner of the Global Fund since its establishment 20 years ago and thanks to the unwavering bipartisan support, the U.S. has traditionally contributed one- third of Global Fund Replenishment asks for a cumulative total of nearly US$20 billion to date. In 2021, the U.S. provided an additional US$3.5 billion to the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) to help low- and middle-income countries mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on HIV, TB and malaria services and respond to COVID-19 with urgent improvements in health systems.
“As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19 with numerous challenges and barriers for equitable access to rights-based, gender transformative and people-centred health services and commodities, the leadership and commitment that President Biden is demonstrating and championing for global health to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is exemplary and the need of the hour,” said Dr Khuat Thi Hai Oanh, Steering Committee Chair of GFAN AP and Executive Director of Center for Supporting Community Development Initiatives (SCDI).
The U.S. is hosting the Seventh Replenishment of the Global Fund, and it is an urgent opportunity for the world to collectively rise to the challenge and take bold action to meet the target of raising at least US$18 billion to end HIV, TB and malaria as epidemics; achieve the health-
related SDGs; and prepare better for future pandemics. A successful Seventh Replenishment will save 20 million lives, cut HIV, TB and malaria deaths by 64% and strengthen health systems and community networks to reinforce pandemic preparedness. Raising at least US$18 billion will be essential for the Global Fund to meet its objectives in its ambitious new Strategy: Fighting Pandemics and Building a Healthier and More Equitable World which places people and communities at the centre of all its work.
“The outcomes of the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment, and the political will and commitments of world leaders will either mark our collective victory or signal our collective failure. The request of President Biden to the U.S. Congress indicates that we have started on the right foot, but it is equally important for all other donors to step up and increase their pledges so that we can ensure communities living with and affected by HIV, TB and malaria and civil society will continue to be empowered through adequately resourced and sustainable community systems as part of health systems through the Global Fund,” said Harry Prabowo, Programme Manager of APN+.
As we commend the dynamic and aspiring commitments of the U.S. to global health and in ending HIV, TB and malaria as epidemics, we call on the global donor community and all stakeholders of the Global Fund to come together and rally for increased pledges as we #FightForWhatCounts to recover together, recover better, and recover stronger because in extraordinary times we are #bettertogether with the #powerofmore.
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