Seattle, WA, September 18, 2019 — The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria saved 32 million lives from three of the world’s deadliest diseases through work with a wide range of partners, including governments, civil society, the private sector and others, according to its new Results Report 2019 launched today.
Since 2000, global investments and innovation have saved seven million lives and prevented more than one billion malaria cases. Instrumental in expanding access to and reducing costs of lifesaving malaria tools, such as antimalarial drugs and bed nets, the Global Fund provides 65% of all global financing for malaria programs.
“Supporting the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is unquestionably one of the world’s best investments with clear returns proven in lives saved and malaria cases prevented,” said Martin Edlund, CEO of Malaria No More. “Thanks to the leadership and support of the United States and many other donors, the Global Fund has driven much of the progress we’ve made against malaria, and it’s essential that we fully fund the Global Fund to eliminate malaria.”
The Global Fund helped test 220 million suspected malaria cases, treat 110 million malaria cases and distribute 131 million bed nets in 2018. Coverage of people with access to bed nets rose from 33% in 2010 to 57% in 2017 in countries where the Global Fund invested.
With the Global Fund and partners, including the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), expanding access to bed nets and antimalarial treatments, the average bed net cost fell to less than $2 and an antimalarial treatment’s cost fell by 20% in 2018. These decreases allowed the Global Fund to buy an additional 11 million life-saving bed nets and 15 million antimalarial treatments in 2018.
Addressing challenges to progress
More countries than ever are malaria-free. The World Health Organization recently certified Algeria, Argentina, Paraguay and Uzbekistan malaria-free. Despite this major progress, malaria cases are rising in the highest burden countries, and insecticide and drug resistance are increasing.
To combat insecticide resistance in Africa, the Global Fund invested $35 million to work with Unitaid, in collaboration with PMI and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to pilot the roll out of next generation bed nets in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique and Rwanda.
The Global Fund is also leading the fight against drug-resistance in Southeast Asia, by investing in the Greater Mekong subregion’s Regional Artemisinin-resistance Initiative to accelerate malaria elimination there. To help those most vulnerable, the Global Fund provided 9.4 million pregnant women with malaria preventative therapies, and supported mass drug campaigns targeting children in the hardest malaria-affected countries in the Sahel.
More countries need to step up the fight
At its Sixth Replenishment pledging conference to be held October 10 in France, the Global Fund is seeking $14 billion to help save 16 million lives, cut the mortality rate from HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in half, and prevent 234 million new infections from the three diseases during its 2020-2022 funding cycle.
As one of the founding contributors to the Global Fund, the United States remains the Global Fund’s largest contributor, historically accounting for nearly one-third of its total resources.
“Beyond saving 32 million lives, the Global Fund complements and builds on the United States’ strong bilateral malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis programs, helping to advance our global health and development interests,” said Josh Blumenfeld, Managing Director of Global Policy and Advocacy at Malaria No More. “The U.S. must maintain its support for the Global Fund’s life-saving work. We are grateful the House of Representatives and Senate State and Foreign Operations Appropriation’s Subcommittee signaled their strong support allocating $1.56 billion in funding in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 funding bills, representing a 15.6 percent increase compared to FY 2019 funding.”
Funding by malaria-affected countries to increase along with support for Global Fund
For the Sixth Replenishment, the Global Fund is looking to see domestic resource commitments increase by 48% over the next three-year cycle. Several countries, such as Benin, India, Kenya, South Africa and Thailand, have shifted from being purely recipients of Global Fund grants to being donors as well.
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For more information or interview requests, contact Wynne Boelt at +1 206-661-2798 or wynne.boelt@MalariaNoMore.org
About Malaria No More
Malaria No More envisions a world where no one dies from a mosquito bite. More than a decade into our mission, our work has contributed to historic progress toward this goal. Now, we’re mobilizing the political commitment, funding, and innovation required to achieve what would be one of the greatest humanitarian accomplishments – ending malaria within our generation. For more information, visit www.malarianomore.org
