EU pledges over $500 million to fight AIDS, TB and malaria

The European Union today announced at the Global Fund's Replenishment Conference in Washington, DC, new support of over US $500 million to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria for the 2014-2016 period. The conference takes place just one day after World AIDS Day.

"Huge progress has already been made in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria but with millions of people still at risk of infection, the battle is far from being won," said European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs. "That is why we are going to increase our contribution to the Global Fund in the next three years."

Commissioner Piebalgs added "If we are now to make the replenishment of the Global Fund a success, we need to look at new and innovative ways of working; for example, leveraging traditional financing with other contributions and vice versa. Greater contributions from the private sector and emerging economies will make it far easier for us to control AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; helping to reduce pricing and improve delivery to supply the poorest people in the world with much-needed health products – everything from drugs to bed nets."

The European Commission provides support to partner countries so that they can build their own health systems in order to tackle these diseases. It works with organizations like the Global Fund as an effective and complementary financing partner in this work.

Background
The Global Fund is a public-private partnership and a global financial instrument designed to make available and leverage additional financial resources to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The European Commission has been associated with the Global Fund ever since it was founded 12 years ago, in 2001. Since then the Commission has contributed more than 1.2 billion euros to the Fund from the common EU budget and from the European Development Fund, to which all EU Member States contribute.

The Commission is pledging an additional 370 million euros (over $500 million) to the Global Fund for the period 2014-2016, representing an increase of 40 million euros ($54 million) compared to the current funding level (330 million euros or $443 for the 2011-2013 period).

In April, the Commission hosted a very successful preparatory meeting in Brussels in view of the pledging conference in December in Washington.

It is estimated that by the end of 2013, Global Fund grants to more than 140 countries have provided antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for AIDS to more than 6.1 million people, 11.2 million people with new cases of infectious tuberculosis have been detected and treated, and more than 360 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets have been provided to families, preventing malaria.

The number of people dying of AIDS-related causes fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.2 million in the mid-2000s.

In 2011, 1.4 million people died from tuberculosis, with Africa recording the highest per capita death rate. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis poses a major threat, with an estimated 630, 000 people in the world suffering from this form of tuberculosis today.

In 2010, there were 106 malaria-endemic countries and approximately 3.3 billion people at risk of infection worldwide. 91 percent of malaria deaths globally were in Africa; 86 percent were of children under 5.