Countries, donors pledge $12 bn to fight AIDS,TB, Malaria
(Vatican Radio) World leaders gathered in Washington D.C. this week increased funding
to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the next three years. The Global Fund,
a world body committed to the prevention and eradication of these diseases, announced
that donors had pledged 12 billion U.S. dollars for the coming three years, a 30%
increase over initial pledges made in 2010.
The Global Fund’s triennial
“replenishment” conference was held in the U.S. capital from December 2-3. Leaders
from 25 nations, as well as the EU Commission, private foundations, corporations and
faith-based organizations attended the meeting.
Though less than the 15 billion
dollar commitment that organizers had hoped for, this year’s donations will provide
diagnosis and treatment to 68% of those who need it around the world.
The Global
Fund reports that this year’s pledges represent “the largest amount ever committed
to fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It was a 30 percent increase over
the US$9.2 billion in firm pledges secured in 2010 at the start of the 2011-2013 period.”
According
to the Fund, global leaders “voiced a broad consensus that we are at a historic moment
in the fight to defeat AIDS, TB and Malaria. Scientific advances are giving us the
ability to completely control these diseases. Harnessing these funds, we can make
a transformational difference in the lives of millions of people.”
The
Global Fund celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012. Dr. Christoph Benn, Director
of External Relations for the Global Fund, says over the past eleven years, the organization
has helped to significantly lower the number of people worldwide who are infected
by these three lethal illnesses.
“The fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria is showing amazing results,” he says. “If we go back a couple of years ago
when AIDS was overwhelming many countries in Africa and in other continents when people
who had no access to treatment and millions of people were dying, it was a very desperate
situation. And with the support of the international community and through the Global
Fund, it has been possible to turn that around in a way that many experts would
not have expected just a couple of years ago. Now we have in Africa more than fifty
percent of people suffering from AIDS now have access to the highly effective AIDS
treatment and mortality rates have gone down in virtually all African countries.”
“We
have spectacular declines in mortality from Malaria because we have been able to provide
families with bed nets to protect them from mosquito bites; we have provided them
with effective treatment and diagnostics and the same with Tuberculosis: the detection
rates have gone up and success rates in treatment have gone up. So this is quite
a spectacular success in international development. And the Global Fund, as the major
international funder for the fight against these three diseases, has played a big
part in that.”
Dr. Benn says though the Fund has helped bring preventative
care and treatment to people in many countries, “we need to see greater progress in
countries with the weakest infrastructures.” The Fund also supports Catholic health
care facilities and Caritas.
Listen to Tracey McClure’s extended interview
with Dr. Christoph Benn: