Nearly 2.7 million people die from AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria each year. Every two minutes a child dies from malaria. There are more children who have lost a parent to AIDS than there are people living in Paris – one of Europe’s largest metropolitan areas.
Why aren’t these figures headline news? Complacency might have something to do with it.
We have work to do
Wasn’t HIV/AIDS a crisis back in the 1980s and 1990s? (Yes, except AIDS is still a crisis today.) Don’t we now have affordable treatment that allows people living with HIV to lead normal lives? (Yes, if you can get access to it.) Wasn’t tuberculosis a disease that Charles Dickens’ characters caught back in the 19th century when it was commonly referred to as consumption? (Yes, but, it’s killed millions of people in the 21st century too). Isn’t there a vaccine for malaria? (Sort of.)
The reality is that while we’ve made incredible progress in the fight against these preventable diseases, we still have work to do. To draw attention to this health crisis we’ve written our own headlines based on the latest facts and figures.
The Global Fund
In October, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will host its Sixth Replenishment. We’re asking world leaders and private investors to come together and help save 16 million lives between 2021 and 2023 by meeting their replenishment goal of at least US$14 billion. This investment is the bold ambition the world needs to get us back on track to stop the spread of these diseases.
To continue funding life-saving programs like this one, we need world leaders to #StepUpTheFight by fully financing the Global Fund.
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