🌍 On International Youth Day 2025, Women4GlobalFund (W4GF) highlights the leadership of young people in all their diversity — especially adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) — as vital drivers of gender equality, health, and human rights. Not only are they stakeholders, but also indispensable leaders who through their innovative energy and technical expertise, grassroots reach, and lived experiences must guide bold, intersectional investments across Sustainable Development Goals 3 (Health), SDG 4 (Education), and SDG 5 (Gender Equality), as well as a fully funded 8th Replenishment that focuses on youth as change-makers.
Why This Matters:
Since 2002, the Global Fund has saved 65+ million lives, strengthened feminist health systems in over 100 countries, and delivered life-saving services for HIV, TB, and malaria. Every US$1 invested returns US$19 in health and economic gains — a direct boost to SDG achievement.
💡 Youth leadership & AGYW must be at the centre
-Nearly 90% of adolescents living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa and AGYW aged 15-24 are 3x more likely to acquire HIV than their male peers (UNAIDS, 2024).
-Every additional year of education for girls can reduce their risk of acquiring HIV and increase lifetime earnings as it will strengthen economies and reduce future health system costs.
-Targeted youth and AGYW interventions not only prevent new HIV,TB, malaria cases, but also generate long-term fiscal savings by reducing treatments over decades.
Without urgent, gender-transformative investment, the world risks missing the 2030 SDG targets for health and equality.
Every dollar must build resilient systems that protect youth futures
📣 Our Call to Action
W4GF urges all countries to formally commit to the meaningful inclusion of young people -especially AGYW- in Global Fund structures and processes by:
- Prioritizing youth-led voices in funding request development & resourcing the Global Fund Youth Council to expand its influence across all Global Fund strategic dialogues and accountability
- Funding cross-sectoral & gender-transformative programmes that integrate HIV, TB, malaria comprehensive healthcare services and SRHR, education, and gender equality
- Going beyond life-saving interventions to investing in the transformation of public health systems to be youth-responsive, gender-transformative, and pandemic-prepared.
- Co-investing alongside governments, private sector actors and philanthropic institutions in youth-led civil society to multiply the impact of the Replenishment
Join us. Fund Youth Futures. Replenish the World!
#FundHerHealth #8R #8ReplenishmentForEquity
Read and share our full statement below: