W4GF Statement: W4GF calls on donors for renewed commitment and invest in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

For Immediate Release

15 December 2015 

WOMEN4GLOBALFUND (W4GF) CALLS ON DONORS FOR RENEWED COMMITMENT AND INVEST IN THE GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA

Tokyo, Japan –  Women4GlobalFund (W4GF) advocates call on donors for renewed commitment and to invest in the Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) to enhance the lives of women and girls, and achieve the strategic objectives of the Strategic Framework 2017 – 2022. This recommendation was made at last week’s workshop[1] on Strengthening and Integrating TB and Malaria within the HIV Gender Response held in Bronte Hotel, Harare, Zimbabwe from 5 – 9 December 2015.

In order to make a real difference in the lives of women and girls, and to achieve the objectives outlined in the new Strategy, additional resources is essential. The Global Fund Secretariat’s Investment Case: The Right Side of the Tipping Point for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, calls at minimum for US$13 billion in contributions. The US$13 billion will save millions of lives, prevent new infections, support domestic investment and lead to billions of dollars in economic gains. Most importantly, US$13 billion will support strengthened responses and gender-transformative programming for women and girls, key populations and human rights.

For making real progress and be able to scale up interventions towards ending AIDS, TB and malaria, US$13 billion is simply not enough! Countries receiving funding from the Global Fund need to substantially increase their government budgets for health and the three diseases; and donor governments have to significantly increase their contributions to the Global Fund to sustain the gains and accelerate the momentum.

As W4GF advocates, we are encouraged by the Global Fund Strategy 2017 – 2022: Investing to End Epidemics on the critical objectives that increases attention, responsibility and investments to address the challenges faced by women and girls living with, and/or affected by HIV, TB and malaria. In the Strategic Framework, one of the four key objectives explicitly aims to “Promote & Promote Human Rights & Gender Equality”, and a sub-objective “Support reproductive, women’s, children’s and adolescent health, and platforms for integrated service delivery” is under key objective “Build Resilient & Sustainable Systems for Health”.

We call on donors, implementing countries, civil society and other partners attending the first Global Fund Replenishment meeting in Tokyo, Japan, to champion the needs of women and girls in all their diversity as we continue to address AIDS, TB and malaria under the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Achieving UHC and the aims of the Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016 – 2030) are mutually dependent and its time to bring together the movement for women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health and the movement for UHC.[2]

We call on donors to commit the necessary resources to Fully Fund the Global Fund in the next Replenishment cycle 2017-2019 ensuring that the new objectives outlined in the Global Fund Strategic Framework 2017-2022 will be achieved and complement the Global Strategy on Women’s Children’s & Adolescent’s Health, launched by the UNSG in September 2015.

#theglobalfundthatwewant #fullyfundtheglobalfund

For more information, please contact Rachel Ong, Global Coordinator, Women4GlobalFund (W4GF) – rachel@women4gf.org. www.women4gf.org.

Women4GlobalFund (W4GF) is a dynamic and global platform of women and gender equality advocates who share a deep commitment to ensuring that Global Fund programmes are gender-transformative to meet the rights and specific needs of women and girls in all their diversity.