Resources

The Global Fund’s 47^th Board meeting took place from the 10^th to the 12^th of May 2022. GFAN has summarized the key discussions that took place – you can read the resulting report here.

You can find some of the documents submitted to the Board by the Secretariat here (you need to click on the + sign under Board Meeting Documents to see the full list).

A de-brief call from the Board Meeting was held with the Communities and 2 NGO Delegations on May 25^th and you can access the recording and materials from that call here.

During the next Board Meeting, the board will take a decision regarding how Catalytic Investments will be allocated in the next implementation cycle (2024-2026). Catalytic Investment, alongside country allocations, is a critical component of the implementation of the new 2023-2028 Strategy. Many community-led, human right and gender transformative interventions that are championed by civil society and communities fall under the priorities for catalytic funding. GFAN members are therefore deeply interested in the outcome of these discussions.

We hope that the board will hear and consider the following points ahead of its decision on Catalytic Investments:

• Catalytic Investments allow the Global Fund to fill essential gaps left by country grants, finance multi-country initiatives and advocacy efforts that are essential to the continuing lifting of barrier of access to care and prevention. It is important that enough funds are made available through catalytic funding for it to have systemic effects. We urge the board not to set too low a cap for Catalytic Investments.
• Catalytic Funding has been used in past cycles to fund Community System Strengthening programs and human right and gender programs, which are core to two of the Contributory Objectives under the 2023-2028 Strategy – ‘Maximizing the Engagement and Leadership of Most Affected Communities to Leave No One Behind’ & ‘Maximizing Health Equity, Gender Equality and Human Rights’. We urge the board to ensure that the central importance given to these objectives in the strategy is reflected in the Catalytic Investments priorities.
• The revised disease split approved during the 46^th Board Meeting did not meet the expectations of TB communities and civil societies. A drastic increase in funding is required to address the crisis facing communities affected by TB, a crisis reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic. We urge the board to ensure that TB be given the highest priority for Catalytic Investments.
• A particular challenge faced by TB Communities has been the lack of robust and empowered ground-level community networks. The establishment and strengthening of these networks in all Global Fund countries implementing TB grants should be explicitly prioritized among Catalytic Investments priorities, to ensure that the voices of TB affected communities are elevated throughout the implementation cycle.

OPEN FOR ENDORSEMENT UNTIL MAY 27

 

Germany has been a strong supporter of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) since its founding 20 years ago. Over that period, the Global Fund has saved 44 million lives, and Germany has contributed more than € 3.9 billion, making it its fourth largest donor. In 2019, for the Sixth Replenishment, Germany pledged € 1 billion, and later an additional € 290 million to fund the COVID-19 Response Mechanism of the Global Fund, which ensured that resources would be supplemented and where necessary redeployed to continue to deliver high-quality HIV, tuberculosis and malaria programs despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19.

Germany plays a pivotal role in shaping Global Fund policies, through its seat on the Global Fund’s Board and role on its Strategy Committee, in particular with regard to the building of resilient and sustainable systems for health, and improving health outcomes for women and girls. Within several weeks of the attack on Ukraine by Russia, the Global Fund Board was able to review and approve a plan to ensure that services for HIV and tuberculosis could continue to operate in the country and could follow Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Global health advocates know Germany as a leading voice in global health and development, initiating important conversations and action on global health security, health systems strengthening and antimicrobial resistance. Germany has endorsed the need to reduce inequalities in accessing health care and overcoming human rights and gender-related barriers in a number of forums where affected communities and civil society are key partners, including the Global Fund.

The Global Fund has grown over the past 20 years into the largest multilateral funder of health, thanks to its unique partnership approach, its comprehensive engagement of communities most affected by the three diseases, and its country-led funding model. It is responsive, adaptable, highly effective, and has a long record of deploying disease-fighting interventions at scale. Its inclusive governance, commitment to human rights, support for evidence-based interventions, local ownership and decades of experience engaging and working with the most marginalized and excluded communities have reinvigorated the responses to HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, and fostered pandemic preparedness and response.

The Global Fund operates in 3-years funding cycles. In 2019, it raised a record US$ 14 billion for its Sixth Replenishment. In 2022, with the world still dealing with COVID-19, the Global Fund estimated in its Investment Case that at least US$ 18 billion would be needed to recover the ground lost during the pandemic to accelerate and put us back on track towards the elimination of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics by 2030. To meet this financial target, a minimum 30% increase is needed of all Global Fund donors. The United States, as host of the Seventh Replenishment Pledging Conference, has indicated its willingness to pledge US$ 6 billion, but in order to be made available this funding must be matched two to one by other donors.

As the host of the upcoming G7 Summit, Germany is in a unique position to influence the outcomes of the Seventh Replenishment. The Elmau Summit will come at a pivotal moment ahead of the Pledging Conference, scheduled for September. The members of the G7 have accounted for over 80% of the Global Fund’s resources to date, and a show of leadership from the G7 Presidency during the summit will be instrumental for the Replenishment to hit its target.

The Global Fund has a pivotal role to play in not only ending HIV, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics, but also in the response against COVID-19 and the preparation for future pandemics. The Global Fund already invests over US$ 1 billion every year in building resilient systems for health, and these investments have already made their mark. Experience from years of HIV genetic sequencing in several countries in southern Africa was key to raise the alarm on the rise of the Omicron variant. Across countries benefiting from Global Fund grants, HIV, tuberculosis and malaria health workers pivoted in 2020 to respond to COVID-19, and supported health systems to better resist the influx of patients, and detect upcoming waves early. Investing in health systems that ensure equitable access to quality prevention and care is our best insurance policy against novel pandemics, and will be the key to ending the world’s most lethal infectious diseases.

We, the undersigned global health advocates, ask the German government:

• to increase by 30% the pledge it made at the Sixth Replenishment Conference in Lyon, to bring it to € 1.3 billion in 2022. This is not an unreasonable ask – given Germany’s contribution to the COVID-19 Response Mechanism, it does not represent an increase from its total contribution over 2020-2022; and
• to create momentum among G7 members by using the summit as a platform to announce its pledge, and uphold the group’s commitment to building a more equitable world.

 

Sign-On the Letter here.

You can download this letter here. 

Signed by:

• Action Santé Mondiale / Global Health Advocates

• Advocates of hope for community (AHFCO)

• Africa Japan Forum

• AIDS Action Europe

• Aids Foundation of South Africa

• AIDS-Fondet (Danish AIDS Foundation)

• Alliance for Sustainable Development Organization (ASDO)

• BlackPride Communications and Projects

• Bloyta Projects

• BUKO Pharma-Kampagne

• Child Watch

• Club des Amis Damien “CAD”

• Coalition PLUS

• Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) – Zimbabwe

• EANNASO

• Equipop

• Evangelisch – methodistische Kirche, Weltmission

• Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

• GFAN

• Global Citizen

• Global Fund Advocates Network Asia-Pacific

• Hope for Future Generations

• Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO)

• Kenya Orphans Support Organization

• Kenya Treatment Access Movement- KETAM

• Kibauni CBO

• Lean on Me

• Machakos County Youth Assembly

• NAP + Ghana

• NAPWA-SA

• Networking Community of Southern Africa

• Non-state actors for health and development, Ghana

• Organismo Andino de Salud – Convenio Hipólito Unanue

• Pan African Positive Women’s Coalition-Zimbabwe

• Public Health International Consulting Center (PHICC)

• Réseau Accès aux Médicaments Essentiels (RAME)

• Results Canada

• Results UK

• Rural New Life Development Kenya

• Rwanda NGOs Forum on HIV/AIDS and Health Promotion

• Spiritia Foundation

• Spouses of CARICOM Leaders Action Network

• Stop TB Canada

• Stop TB Partnership-Kenya

• Tanzania AIDS Forum

• Tanzania Network of Women Living with HIV and AIDS

• TB Women Kenya

• The Botswana Network on Ethics Law and HIV AIDS(BONELA)

• Vision makers CBO

• WACI Health

• Women with Dignity

• Women4GlobalFund

• YAPBEC

• Youth Support Foundation

• Zengele

Civil Society wants a more equitable and transparent pandemic preparedness and response, and wants to see the Global Fund, uniquely placed to scale up the investments required for pandemic preparedness and with a long record of impact, transparency and commitment to leaving no one behind. 

Building on the momentum created after the first COVID-19 Summit in September 2021 the United States is convening a second COVID-19 Summit in May 2022, co-hosted by Belize, Germany, Indonesia and Senegal.

This second summit takes place as the world still grapples with the impact of the pandemic. The shifting of resources towards fighting COVID-19 and the pandemic’s impact on health systems since 2020 has also led to increases in infections and deaths from other diseases, in particular HIV, TB and Malaria. The world needs to adapt, to build the foundations to a renewed pandemic preparedness and response architecture and make ambitious commitments for its funding. We need to ensure that the COVID-19 response benefits the fight against others diseases and the strengthening of national health systems. The continuing emergence of new variants and the ongoing gap in access to COVID-19 tools like vaccines, and importantly also diagnostics, protective equipment and treatments alongside drops in testing levels globally is, paradoxically, allowing the pandemic to continue destroying lives and damaging livelihoods just as we finally have many of the tools we need to end COVID-19.

We continue to support increased efforts and investments in both the urgent needs to end the pandemic globally and building the capacities to respond to any future pandemics. We believe that the on-going challenges of the COVID-19 response and pandemic preparedness will be best met by institutions with a record of successful global investment in health systems. While not the only actor, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is well-situated to scale up the investments required for pandemic preparedness. The Global Fund has become since its creation the largest multilateral funding mechanism for global health. It has proven agile and capable to rapidly scale up its operations to meet the challenges of pandemic control – and it is time to replenish the Fund so that it can put progress on AIDS, TB and malaria back on track and extend resilience against pandemics.

The course taken by the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced what we in the Global Fund community have known for years: that pandemic response can only succeed if it is equitable, committed to the respect of human-rights, and inclusive in its governance. The Global Fund has significant experience and expertise to be able to deliver on this vision, both to respond to the infectious disease pandemics we have and to be ready for any future pandemics. In order to do so, it must be properly funded.

Therefore, the undersigned Civil Society and Health Advocates call on the governments of the United States, Belize, Germany, Indonesia, and Senegal as co-hosts of the upcoming Second COVID-19 World Summit, to:

1. Ensure that discussions meaningfully involve civil society and affected communities;
2. Consider channeling significant resources committed to pandemic preparedness and response through existing institutions like the Global Fund with a proven track record of impact rather than focusing scarce resources to a newly-formed entity;
3. Highlight the critical importance of meeting the challenge of the 7th Replenishment of the Global Fund to raise at least $18 billion in September 2022 to ensure that the gains made over the last 20 years of impact are not reversed because of a lack of political commitment to meet existing and future health challenges.

 

Read the full letter here.

Add your organization to the signatories to the open letter here.

Signed by:

1. Action against AIDS Germany
2. Action against NCDs in Eswatini
3. Action Santé Mondiale / Global Health Advocates
4. Africa Japan Forum
5. Aidsfonds
6. Association For Promotion Sustainable development
7. Association des Victorieux de la Tuberculose Ultra-Résistante (AVTUR)
8. Civil Society For Malaria Elimination (CS4ME)
9. DCenturyvibes Global International Foundation
10. Eastern Africa National Networks of AIDS and Health Services Organization (EANNASO)
11. Frontline AIDS
12. Global Fund Advocates Network Africa
13. Global Fund Advocates Network
14. Global Fund Advocates Network Asia-Pacific
15. Good Health Community Programmes
16. Harm Reduction International
17. Impact Santé Afrique
18. LHL International Tuberculosis Foundation
19. Results Canada
20. Results U.S.
21. Results U.K.
22. SAF-TESO
23. Stop TB Canada
24. STOPAIDS
25. Vision makers
26. WACI Health
27. Wote Youth Developoment Projects

This Advocacy Briefing is intended for Civil Society and Community advocates to present some of the key elements of the Investment Case, the challenges and opportunities it presents, and put in context its fundraising target. It is meant to support efforts by all Global Fund partners to mobilise donor funding commitment ahead of the 2022 Pledging Conference hosted by the United States.

Download the report here.

Download the report here.

This report provides an overview of discussions during three calls organized by the Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN) held shortly before and after the Global Fund’s 7th Replenishment preparatory meeting on 23–24 February.

The first two calls, on 15 and 22 February, were co-organized by the GFAN Secretariat, GFAN Asia Pacific, GFAN Africa and GFAN Afrique Francophone. They focused on discussing key points and issues to include in a civil society statement on the Global Fund’s investment case and highlighting some priority actions and events for civil society engagement in support of the replenishment. The investment case is the document in which the Global Fund reveals how much money it hopes to raise and presents its argument for why all or more of those funds should be made available.

The third call, on 25 February, provided a forum for GFAN members to listen to Global Fund Secretariat staff introduce and summarize the investment case, which was formally released on 23 February, and to ask questions and make remarks in response. A recording of this call can be found here.

“The Global Fund has saved lives and transformed communities for 20 years. But COVID-19 is devastating communities and health systems around the world and, for the first time since the Global Fund’s founding, we lost ground in the fight against HIV, TB and Malaria. Our stories are the reasons why, in a COVID world, we must take bold and decisive action to fully fund the Global Fund.”

This Fully Fund the Global Fund video combines interviews with six of our speakers. They give testimony of the impact the Global Fund has had on their lives, and share why it is more important than ever that we keep on the fight and be ambitious and bold for the 7th Replenishment.

You can also find here shorter (under 2 minutes) vignettes, one for each of the speakers; perfect for sharing on Social Media.

The GFAN report on the 46th Global Fund Board Meeting, that took place virtually from Nov 8 to Nov 10 2021.

GET BACK ON TRACK TO END AIDS, TB AND MALARIA IN A COVID WORLD

The Global Fund Advocates Network’s demand is clear: we need bold and decisive action. Now is the time for significant investment in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an existing funding mechanism with a proven track record and credibility. COVID-19 has shown us that global-level cooperation and investments are essential to help countries rapidly identify and contain disease outbreaks and respond to, mitigate, and prevent the spread of pandemics when they occur. To be successful, we also need to get back on track towards ending HIV, TB and malaria.

The final report from the GFAN Global Meeting that took place virtually from October 13-20 2021.