Science Magazine published an editorial from Dr. Barry Bloom supporting the Global Fund and asking that funding not be cut to this important institution.  Excerpts appear below.

“As more nations struggle with stressed economies, aid to the developing world becomes increasingly vulnerable to governments’ budgetary cuts. The industrialized world is recognizing that coordinating global development assistance is the most efficient way to maximize effectiveness and minimize duplication. Earlier this year, the United States, the largest funder of global health assistance, announced that it seeks to expand multilateral efforts to address the major health problems of developing countries.

One of the triumphs of multilateral cooperation has been the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a program that has saved millions of lives in developing countries. That is why the $50 million reduction in funding for the Global Fund requested by the U.S. government for fiscal year 2011, in the face of increased requests for expanded coverage by those countries, would be a major setback…

Thus far, it has supported comprehensive prevention, treatment, and care programs in 144 countries through more than $19 billion of donor fi nancing. Annually, it provides about 57% of all international fi nancing for tuberculosis treatment, 60% for malaria, and 23% for HIV. Before funding is renewed, each project is rigorously reviewed and evaluated.

Approximately 5 million people would have died of AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria over the past 5 years if not for the interventions supported by the Global Fund.”

The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has issued a report on the progress made against the three diseases and what this new information means for projections of what can be accomplished by 2020. 

The data suggests that by 2015, the world can eliminate all mother to child transmission of HIV.   Additionally, important progress will be made against malaria and tuberculosis as well.

To read the entire report, click here.

Today is World AIDS day and the virus is still killing countless numbers of people across the globe and especially in Africa.  There has been important progress made and a vast amount of resources have been mobilized in recent years to help fight the disease.  But, much like malaria, there is work left to be done. 

That is not the only connection between AIDS and malaria.  Both disproportionately affect Africa and both have been treated with programs from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  As we take this day to commemorate the success the world has achieved and pointing out the work left to be done, there is an important reality in the fight for global health.

Simply put, the Global Fund is facing an ever shrinking pool of resources.    Unfortunately, the economic climate and funding shortfalls from donor countries have created this lack of funding. 

The cause is too important and the progress made has been too great for us to turn back now.

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced its latest prevention and treatment numbers yesterday. 

Global Fund-financed programs have put 2.3 million people on treatment for HIV/AIDS, 5.4 million people have been treated for tuberculosis, and 88 million insecticide-treated nets have been distributed to prevent malaria infection. In addition, more than 500,000 HIV-positive pregnant women have been treated to prevent their babies from being born with HIV. Over the past year, the number of people accessing ARVs through Global Fund-financed programs has increased by 31%, the number given tuberculosis drugs has increased by 38% and the number of nets distributed has increased by 49%.

These numbers are staggering and cause for celebration.  The U.S. Government is the largest contributer to the Global Fund and every dollar that the U.S. spends is leveraged to generate $2 in contributions from other donor nations.

This is why it is so crucial that the U.S. demonstrate leadership on this issue by continuing to contribute high levels of funding to the Global Fund.  The numbers show the Global Fund’s success, let’s continue that push.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is sometimes perceived as an organization that only treats the sick and specifically those sick from AIDS, TB and Malaria.  While this is undoubtedly true, and these life saving efforts should be applauded, the Global Fund is so much more than a system of delivering medicine. 

The Global Fund also deals in prevention as well as health systems strengthening.  It is the latter that receives little to no recognition, but almost 35% of Global Fund funding goes towards issues like human resources, training, creating and developing delivery mechanisms.  So the Global Fund cannot be put into an AIDS only box or an AIDS, TB and Malaria box, it produces results across the health spectrum.  These networks can, will and have been utilized to mitigate the effects of other health problems.  What we need to avoid is a sense of singularity in regards to the Global Fund.  It is a driving component of overall development. 

So instead of viewing the Global Fund as money slated only to help certain diseases, we must reframe the rhetoric to recognize that the Global Fund is a wide-ranging multilateral component of development across lower income countries.  It will not only help fight these three diseases, but improve health overall.  It is time we recognize the myriad facets of this noble enterprise and the ancillary benefits it has been producing for quite some time.