A life saved every three minutes – Britain leads the way in fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria
The UK’s allocation to the Global Fund will save a life every 3 minutes for the next 3 years and will dramatically improve the lives of millions of people.
Picture: WHO / PM Virot
Britain today reaffirmed its commitment to tackling 3 killer diseases with new support for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, announced by International Development Secretary Justine Greening at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York.
The Global Fund has already saved millions of lives and today’s announcement will help turn that success into long lasting change that brings us one step closer to a world free from AIDS, TB and malaria.
Over the next 3 years, UK support will deliver:
- lifesaving antiretroviral therapy for 750,000 people living with HIV
- 32 million more insecticide-treated nets to prevent the transmission of malaria
- TB treatment for over a million more people
The UK’s allocation to the Global Fund will save a life every 3 minutes for the next 3 years and will dramatically improve the lives of millions of people.
Justine Greening said:
AIDS, TB and malaria are among the world’s biggest killers despite being entirely preventable and treatable. The Global Fund has already helped save millions of lives but we must keep up the momentum if we are to beat these diseases for good.
It is in all our interests to help people to live longer, healthier, more productive lives so we all need to play our part in working towards a world free of HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB.
The UK has committed to give £1 billion to the Global Fund over the next 3 years so long as others join us in ensuring it meets its target of $15 billion and our contribution is 10% of the total replenishment.
To date, the Global Fund is estimated to have saved more than 8.7 million lives, with 5.3 million people now receiving antiretroviral therapy to treat HIV; 11 million new TB cases have been detected and treated and 340 million insecticide treated nets distributed to protect families from malaria.
Notes to editors
- The new UK support for the Global Fund is worth £1 billion over the three year period of 2014-2016.
- The Global Fund was created in 2002 as a public private partnership to raise funds to significantly change the course of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. The UK is currently the third largest donor, after the USA and France. This announcement will see the UK move into second place.
- The UK was a founding donor and played a significant role in its establishment.
- The Global Fund is the world’s biggest funder of programmes to prevent, treat and care for people with HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria
- Since 2002, the Fund has approved over $23 billion for over 1,000 grants in more than 150 countries. It accounts for 21% of all international funding for HIV/AIDS, 82% of international TB funding, and 50% of global malaria spend.
- Latest results show that as of 1 July, 5.3 million people living with HIV are receiving antiretroviral therapy under programs supported by the Global Fund, up from 4.2 million at the end of 2012.
- Big strides have also been made in the fight against malaria, with 30 million insecticide-treated nets distributed in the first half of 2013 under programs supported by the Global Fund, taking the total number of nets distributed to 340 million.
- Global Fund-supported TB programs also continued to expand. Global Fund financing has cumulatively supported detection and treatment of 11 million smear-positive cases of TB, up from 9.7 million at the end of 2012.
- The UK committed £1 billion to the Global Fund from 2008–2015. Support for the Fund delivers a number of DFID’s health objectives, including for malaria – where the UK has committed ‘to help at least ten high burden countries halve the number of malaria deaths between 2010 and 2015, and sustain these gains into the future’.
- The UK has committed to give £1 billion to the Global Fund over the next three years so long as others help it meet its target of $15 billion and our contribution is 10% of the total replenishment. We have assumed an exchange rate of £1:$1.5.
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