A Lifesaver for 16 Million People

[This article has been published in Spanish on 3.500 millones-El País]

At a conjuncture fraught with bad news, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has achieved its funding target for the next three years

As I write these lines, the Global Fund set up to fight three major pandemics—AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria—has just announced that it has reached its target of securing US$ 14 billion in funding for the next 3 years at its Sixth Replenishment Conference. For many of you, this figure may not mean a lot; however, for the 16 million children and adults whose lives will be saved over the next three years, it means everything.

The Global Fund has just announced that it has reached its target of securing US$ 14 billion in funding for the next 3 years. For many of you, this figure may not mean a lot; however, for the 16 million children and adults whose lives will be saved over the next three years, it means everything.

The case of malaria is a good illustration of the magnitude of the human cost at stake. In just a decade and a half (2000-2015), the death toll associated with malaria has been reduced by 58% and the global incidence of this deadly disease has fallen by 37%, with an estimated 219 million cases worldwide in 2017. A concerted effort on the part of local governments and donor countries to implement a strategy combining prevention and control significantly increased access to insecticide-treated bed nets and combination therapies, transforming the lives of millions of people and the future of their communities.

Perhaps the recent signs of a reversal in this trend are alarming precisely because we achieved so much and glimpsed the possibility of a final victory over this ancient plague. A policy note published by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health indicates that the ten countries with the highest burden of malaria are seeing an increase in the incidence of the disease and report that the reduction in death rates has started to slow down. The advances achieved over those 15 years could easily slip through our fingers.

A policy note published by ISGlobal indicates that the ten countries with the highest burden of malaria are seeing an increase in the incidence of the disease and report that the reduction in death rates has started to slow down. The advances achieved over those 15 years could easily slip through our fingers.

The major challenges that must be overcome include reaching the most vulnerable populations, combatting resistance to treatment, and facilitating pharmaceutical innovation. However, the most pressing problem is to secure the funding required to implement solutions that already exist and have been shown to be effective. What we are facing is the classic do or die dilemma: the lack of funding is not just slowing down efforts to combat the disease, it may well sink them altogether.

Hence the importance of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis replenishment conference. This public-private partnership has become an indispensable component in the equation that could put an end to these three great pandemics associated with poverty. The Global Fund’s strategic evolution has led it to abandon purely vertical approaches and to incorporate efforts to build national capacities; in the past three years, the Fund has invested almost one in every three euros in strengthening national health systems.

$14 billion is the magic figure—the amount needed to increase the partnership’s total funding from $66 billion in the current cycle to the estimated $83 billion required to finance the next phase of this fight. The acting Government of Spain has announced a modest contribution of 100 million. Modest perhaps, but revolutionary if we take into account the fact that the country’s previous contribution was zero. Pedro Sánchez’s announcement in New York was interpreted as heralding Spain’s intention to once again take its place in the international donor community, a place it should never have abandoned.

Amidst so many depressing bulletins, the success of the Global Fund replenishment conference should be trumpeted in every news channel. Many people have worked hard to achieve this target and many more will have a better chance in life as a result of their achievement. Today we are a little better than we were 48 hours ago.

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