Global Fund gets powerful help with $18 billion funding goal
NEW YORK (AP) — The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will get some high-powered help this week to reach its $18 billion goal to fund another three years to slow the spread of these diseases.
President Joe Biden will host The Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference, the public health partnership’s fundraising campaign, on Wednesday in New York. The start has been delayed by two days so that Biden, who has pledged $6 billion in U.S. government support for the fund, could attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Global Fund and the Clinton Global Initiative, which is holding its first gathering of political, business and philanthropic leaders since 2016 in New York this week, has also announced a new long-term partnership to drive donors of all sorts toward supporting The Global Fund’s work.
Global Fund Executive Director Peter Sands told The Associated Press that fundraising through the Replenishment Conference is “always a bit of a rollercoaster.” However, he is hopeful that the fund will reach its goal by the end of the conference, even though he recognizes that donors, especially governments, face financial decisions complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
“Yes, there are many other demands and governments are facing lots of domestic political pressures around the cost of living, energy and all this kind of stuff,” Sands said. “But I think there’s also recognition that however tough things might be in some of the rich countries in the world, the way these things are translating in poorer, marginalized communities is a matter of life and death.”
He is encouraged by Japan and Germany pledging 30% increases in their donations to The Global Fund, as well as the United States’ increased participation.
If the Global Fund...
