On February 27, the House of Representatives in the US passed a Covid-19 supplemental budget package including $3.5 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Such a decision that awaits now the Senate’s action, is crucial to support LMIC in the fight against Covid-19 and to mitigate the impacts of this new epidemic on Global Fund funded programs.
The Global Fund reacted very quickly to help the poorest countries in their response to Covid-19 by providing $1 billion to LMIC in particular for diagnostic tests and personal protective equipment to health workers.
The Global Fund has many assets acquired from its experience in the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that today can very effectively benefit the fight against Covid-19 : using effective procurement and distribution channels to provide quality products and commodities for health, sharing data and good practices, using proven financial management systems, … and turning all this into effective interventions through working closely with global health partners.
By supporting civil society organizations and communities in recipient countries, the Global Fund has enabled networks for health that effectively contribute to the health coverage as close as possible to the populations, particularly the most vulnerable and marginalized people, and provide access to prevention, treatment and basic health care services.
All this is priceless at a moment when equity and solidarity should be the only guiding principles to protect everyone everywhere from Covid-19 and to make progress towards a more secure world.