Global Fund seeks £11bn as progress slows in fight against malaria, TB and HIV

pharmafile | January 14, 2019 | News story | Sales and Marketing Africa, Global Fund, HIV, TB, infectious diseases, malaria, tuberculosis 

The Global Fund is seeking £11 billion worth of investment in an attempt to save 16 million lives in the fight against malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and HIV. The fund aims to cut the number of deaths from malaria, TB and HIV in half, by 2023.

French President Emmanuel Macron backed the latest round of investment in stressing the need for worldwide collaboration in ending epidemics. The call comes after it was announced that progress had stalled in the fight against infectious diseases. A lack of funding paired with insecticide and drug resistance have led to slow progress in recent years.

Speaking to the BBC, the fund’s executive director Peter Sands said: “We’ve made extraordinary progress in reducing these deaths – but that progress has stalled. Coming in new to this post, I’ve been really struck by the strength of political support for the Global Fund across many different capitals.

Advertisement

“I’m not at all complacent about the challenge of raising the money we need – and obviously the geopolitical environment is complicated. But we are confident we have a strong investment case – and a demonstrable level of delivering impact.”

While antimicrobial resistance has led to an increase in deaths from TB, the massive increase in the number of young people in Africa may lead to a spike in infections. Meanwhile cases of malaria are on the rise after years of steady decline.  

Louis Goss

Related Content

European Commission approves HIV prevention injection

The European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorisation for Gilead Science’s Yeytuo (lenacapavir), the first …

lungs

M42 study highlights positive performance of AI model for tuberculosis screening

Healthcare tech company, M42, has published results from one of the largest real-world studies of …

Mosquito image

First malaria medicine for infants under 4.5kg receives approval

Coartem (artemether-lumefantrine) Baby, or Riamet, has been approved by Swissmedic as the first malaria medicine …

The Gateway to Local Adoption Series

Latest content