Advocates come together to mobilize resources for Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, malaria

"Over the last two weeks, a series of meetings were held in Amsterdam in the Netherlands -- advocates and people from the communities affected by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis [TB] and malaria came together to strategize and decide on courses of action to take in this critical year of replenishing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria," Lucy Chesire, executive director and secretary to the board of the TB ACTION Group, writes in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog.

"Hosted by Dutch [non-governmental organization (NGO)] International Civil Society Support, the Global Fund Advocates Network meetings ... included presentations from members of the Global Fund Secretariat on the replenishment and communications strategy and from UNAIDS, Stop TB Partnership, Malaria No More and HealthGAP about some of the opportunities and challenges in the fields of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria advocacy," she states, noting the presentations are available online. Advocates "jointly strategized around the big push needed to mobilize resources both in donor capitals but also in countries where the Global Fund operates to increase domestic resources in the fight against the three diseases," according to Chesire, who relays the story of Oxana Rucsineanu, a TB survivor and advocate from Moldova working with the Global Fund Advocacy Network in Amsterdam (2/7).