Mixed results for the Global Fund’s 7th Replenishment Conference:
Friends of the Global Fund Europe calls for continued mobilisation efforts
The Global Fund held its replenishment conference last week in New York under the auspices of U.S. President Joe Biden, with 18 Heads of State and Government in attendance, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The Global Fund’s target to place the international community back on track to meet the United Nations goals of eliminating AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030 while strengthening health systems to ensure better preparedness for future pandemics was at least USD18 billion for the 2023-2025 period. Although 30% higher than the USD14 billion raised at the previous Replenishment Conference hosted by France in 2019, this target represents a mere 14% of the estimated USD130 billion needed to fight the three pandemics in the countries where the Global Fund invests.
To date, the resource mobilisation has reached USD14.25 billion, approximately one-third of which was pledged by the European Union and EU Member States. Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the associated economic and political consequences, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, the European Commission, Spain and Ireland have made considerable efforts, contributing EUR1.6 billion, EUR1.3 billion, USD1.08 billion, CAD1.2 billion, EUR715 million, EUR130 million, and EUR65 million, respectively. Luxembourg also increased its contribution by 30% to reach EUR11.7 million. The Netherlands increased its pledge by 15%, Denmark by 7%, and Sweden by 5%, while Norway, Switzerland and Belgium announced that their contributions would be maintained.
South Korea quadrupled its commitment to USD100 million, while Indonesia and Morocco, which are also recipients of Global Fund grants, became new donors with USD10 million and EUR1.29 million, respectively. India, host of the 6th pre-replenishment conference in 2019, and China have not yet renewed their contributions.
Two major contributors to the Global Fund, the United Kingdom and Italy – which respectively pledged GBP 1.46 billion and EUR 160 million in 2019 for the 6th Replenishment – have yet to pledge. The UK, facing exceptional circumstances as national period of mourning has suspended the work of the new government and Parliament and has vowed to announce its contribution in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the Italian government has postponed its announcement until after the early general elections that took place on 25 September. These contributions will be decisive for calculating the funds available for grants to countries eligible for Global Fund financing.
While the United States has announced a pledge of USD6 billion, this contribution can only be effectively disbursed if an additional USD3.75 billion is raised from other donors by 2025. U.S. law caps the country’s contribution to the Global Fund at one-third of total resources, i.e. USD4.125 billion based on the amount raised to date.
“We call for continued efforts to reach the USD18 billion target, save 20 million lives, and resist fragmentation and divisions within the international community,” said Laurent Vigier, President of Friends of the Global Fund Europe. “Increased resources for the Global Fund are essential to accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria amid a rise in new infections in many parts of the world and the dire urgency of health systems capacity strengthening in low- and middle-income countries to respond to future epidemics”.