This month, we’ll be featuring blog posts that help illustrate the Global Fund’s effect on programs that fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world — and the people suffering from these diseases.
Some people forget that the Global Fund not only focuses on HIV/AIDS and malaria, but tuberculosis (TB), a treatable and preventable disease that kills nearly 2 million people each year. David Rochkind, an award-winning documentary photographer, has spent the last three years working to illuminate this statistic, illustrate TB’s vast reach across the globe and share TB patients’ stories through videos, photos and interviews.
Currently, David is working with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to produce multimedia pieces on a multidrug-resistant strain of TB in Moldova. Although he’s been in the Eastern European country for less than a month, he can already see that “educating the population about the disease and treating people who are always on the move and have little or no access to health care” will help remove the obstacles for TB treatment once and for all.
And in case you haven’t told President Obama to support the Global Fund, an organization that has helped save more than 5.7 million lives from diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, now’s the time.
This month, we’ll be featuring blog posts that help illustrate how the Global Fund affects programs that fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world. In this article, Dr. Joia Mukherjee of Partners in Health (PIH), who participated in our ONE Haiti conference call in January, highlights the partnership between the Fund and PIH.
It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since all 191 United Nations member states agreed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Yet the lack of progress on the final one — a global partnership for development — has hampered the achievement of all others. The one shining light in such a partnership for global development is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
The Global Fund was partly established by activists in the developed and developing world, otherwise known as the “global North and South.” Many of these activists were living with HIV and wanted to start an organization that could help achieve universal HIV/AIDS treatment.
The Fund is a novel mechanism; it is a multilateral fund, independent of the United Nations and financed by donors from the government and private sector. Its structure has allowed even some of the poorest countries to expand treatment for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria as a basic right for free, largely through the public sector, with support from non-government organizations and the private sector.
The Fund has put more money into the public health sector than any previous initiative, and a consortium convened by the World Health Organization documented the positive synergies that this money has had not just on MDG 6 — combating AIDS, malaria and other diseases — but the health sector in general.
My organization, PIH, has been working to provide health care and improve the social determinants of health for the destitute for more than 20 years. As one of the recipients of first-round Global Fund monies in Haiti, we set out to build public sector health systems and tackle poverty as a critical component to our HIV response.
This work, supported by the Global Fund since its inception, has resulted in the rehabilitation and revitalization of 52 public facilities in ten countries around the globe. The public sector-NGO community partnership that has developed in the course of this work is poised to meet 4 and 5, the other health-related MDGs as well.
As the 2010 MDG summit approaches and the challenges to achieve the MDGs are addressed, it is critical to note the importance that dedicated funding for MDG 6 has had not only in achieving the right to HIV, TB and malaria treatment, but in improving the systems to deliver health care around the world.
For most of us, August is the slowest month of the year. It’s a time to go on vacation, leave work a little early just for the heck of it, and because of the congressional recess, stop watching the news.
But here at ONE, we’re forging ahead and actually ramping up our work. This month, we’re focusing a lot of our efforts on ensuring that President Obama commits $6 billion to the Global Fund over the next three years.
For the Global Fund, the world’s largest health financier, 2010 is a replenishment year. Come October (we told you there was no time to lose!), the fate of the Global Fund’s financing for the next three years will be set in stone – and that’s why we’re urging the president to show real American leadership for the Global Fund right now.
The Global Fund has hit some serious home runs for malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis – all preventable diseases – since it started in 2002. By providing funding for vital prevention and treatment efforts, the Global Fund has helped save a whopping 5.7 million lives – roughly 4,000 a day. In fact, the Fund provides two-thirds of all international financing to fight malaria and tuberculosis and one-quarter to HIV/AIDS.
We don’t expect the president to fund the Global Fund by himself. International donors, including African countries, and groups from the public and private sector, will help contribute to this fight against preventable diseases. An estimated $17 to $20 billion could help existing programs continue their good work and scale up at a speedy rate to meet growing demand. The more money donors invest, the better chance the Fund has to eliminate malaria deaths and ensure that no babies are born with HIV by 2015.
This August, we’ll do everything in our power to help educate you on the Global Fund. We’ve got a blog series with a chock-full of personal stories and unique voices; a question-answer session (that you’ll be able to participate in) with our resident global health expert, Todd Summers; a quiz to test your Global Fund smarts; and to end our campaign with a bang, a secret Twitter mission (more on that later).
But in turn we need you, our members, to take action alongside us. In many ways, the fate of global health progress is linked with the success of the Global Fund’s replenishment in October. This is a critical moment for the world’s poorest people, and we need your voices now more than ever.
We must do better against malaria, says President – Following this week’s African Union summit, Tanzanian President, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, asserts that leaders must do more to eliminate all preventable malaria deaths, starting with the goal of reaching universal mosquito-net coverage by the end of this year. (The Guardian)
New TB test must reach more people, says WHO – A new diagnostic tool that reduces to two hours the time needed to detect drug-resistant tuberculosis must be made available to populations vulnerable to the disease, a World Health Organization expert said. “These tools are very expensive, but the scale up should be carefully planned,” said one WHO adviser. (Reuters)
Millions awarded for TB and HIV/AIDS fight in Uganda – The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has been awarded $38 million by USAID to provide integrated TB and HIV/AIDS services in the southwest region of Uganda. The new program seeks to support health service delivery at the district level to provide comprehensive services in the region.” (Rosebell Kagumire, The Independent)
African leaders must focus on maternal health – Ex-Irish president Mary Robinson urged African leaders to boost support for maternal health, during a visit to Sierra Leone where mortality rates are among the highest in the world. “If the African Union succeeds in fulfilling its commitment to maternal health, it will benefit the economies of countries to have healthy populations,” she said. (AFP)
Flower power in Kenya – Slate explores the burgeoning flower industry in Kenya’s Rift Valley, where ambitious plans of turning the country into a global powerhouse are blooming into reality. Though environmentalists may disagree with some of the growing methods, one farmer asserts, “We are branding ourselves as a flower-growing country.” (Alexis Okeowo, Slate)
Officials from Australia, Indonesia and the Global Fund just announced an agreement that will boost support to Indonesia’s tuberculosis control programs.
The Debt2Health agreement helps redirect money from servicing debt to improving public health. Australia will cancel AUD$75 million of Indonesia’s debt and Indonesia will put half of this amount into national programs to fight tuberculosis through the Global Fund. These additional resources will be particularly useful as Indonesia has the world’s third highest rate of tuberculosis.
Executive Director of the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine commended this Debt2Health agreement, saying:
In order to reach and sustain the level of funding we need in the fight against the most deadly epidemics of our time, we must make use of innovative financing opportunities like Debt2Health. We are delighted that Australia has joined the initiative and are very grateful for the trust that it shows in our work.
Over the years, ONE has worked on ensuring debt relief for the poorest countries and finding innovative sources of financing for health, so it is very good news indeed to see them coming together in this Debt2Health agreement for the benefit of Indonesians.
Last week, my colleagues Erin, Margaret and I (that’s us in the lab coats) went on a tour of the Aeras Global TB Vaccine facility in Rockville, Maryland. We were there to learn more about the need for a new tuberculosis (TB) vaccine and to see how the vaccine development process works.
A new vaccine for TB is urgently needed. Every year, more than 9.4 million people become sick with TB and about 1.8 million people die from the disease, including 0.5 million people who are also HIV-positive. The existing BCG vaccine was first used in 1921, does not always protect people from getting TB, and is not safe for those with weakened immune systems, such as those living with HIV (a significant shortcoming as TB is the leading cause of death among persons infected with HIV in Africa). Our Aeras guides stressed the important of addressing TB in order to protect the historic progress achieved through recent investments in HIV/AIDS.
The Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation is a non-profit product development partnership dedicated to the development of safe and effective TB vaccine regimens that will prevent tuberculosis in all age groups and will be affordable, available and adopted worldwide. Our tour of the Aeras Global TB Vaccine facility involved a look at the following steps of TB vaccine development: vaccine discovery, molecular biology, process development, cell banks, manufacturing: shake flasks and 20 liter seed fermenter, manufacturing: 200 liter fermenter, manufacturing: harvest, quality control, spray drying for aerosol vaccines, and fill and finish. We also learned about the steps that come later, including shipping bulk product to manufacturing partners and delivery.
That’s just an overview, and if it sounds complicated, that’s because it is. Aeras scientists are well-trained and committed to developing safe and effective TB vaccine regimens, but vaccine development is a lengthy process and Aeras estimates that we are about ten years away from a vaccine that that has been thoroughly tested and can be delivered around the world. Aeras has four vaccine candidates currently in clinical trials in Africa, Europe and the U.S.
If you’d like to learn more about the great work the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation is doing, you can visit their website at www.aeras.org.
If you remember back in March, when we met with global leaders in The Hague, the Global Fund released some impressive reports detailing their work to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Now, just a few months later, they’ve released new data, and the results are astounding:
2.8 million people on life-saving AIDS treatment
7 million people treated for TB
122 million bednets distributed to protect families from malaria
Those are increases of 22%, 30%, and, 39% respectively just since June 2009! Additional results showed that 930,000 HIV-positive pregnant women have received treatment to reduce mother-to-child transmission of the virus; 120 million HIV counseling and testing sessions have been conducted; and 4.9 million basic care and support services have been provided to AIDS orphans and vulnerable children since the Global Fund started financing grants in 2003.
These new statistics are living proof that investments in the Global Fund are working; in fact, the Global Fund now estimates that it has saved 5.7 million lives.
But just throwing out statistics – even if they are impressive – can often be less impactful than the power of one person’s story. Watch how investments in the Global Fund saved the life of one young man in Cote D’Ivoire, and how he has since been inspired to give back to his community:
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
