09 April 2013 - Brussels - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has announced a goal of raising US$ 15 billion so that it can effectively support countries in fighting these three infectious diseases in the 2014-2016 period.
In a press release issued ahead of a donor conference today the Global Fund says that it is determined to accelerate the gains achieved in recent years against AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.
"We have a choice: we can invest now or pay forever," said Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund. "Innovations in science and implementation have given us a historic opportunity to completely control these diseases. If we do not, the long-term costs will be staggering."
The Global Fund is convening a donor's conference in Brussels today and tomorrow to present an assessment of its financial needs for the 2014-2016 period and an update on results and impact from recent years. Donors will be invited to a pledging conference, known as the Global Fund's Fourth Replenishment, in late 2013.
Working together with partners at WHO, UNAIDS, Roll Back Malaria and the Stop TB Partnership, the Global Fund has calculated that US$15 billion, when combined with other funding, would have a transformative effect on the global fights against HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria.
This sum, together with an estimated US$37 billion from domestic sources and US$24 billion from other international sources, would allow partners to move decisively toward a tipping point in controlling the three epidemics, the Global Fund says, turning them into manageable health problems instead of global emergencies.
The aggregate funding would mean that 17 million patients with TB and with multidrug-resistant TB could receive treatment, saving almost 6 million lives over this three-year period.
"We can defeat these diseases by working with partners," said Dr Dybul. "Collectively, we know what has to be done, and we know how to do it. But we have to work together to succeed."