Pretoria, 12 March 2010-(SAfAIDS Media)- Imagine a situation where all HIV positive pregnant mothers in the world give birth to negative children. Malaria is eliminated as a public health problem within a decade in most countries, and tuberculosis prevalence is halved internationally by 2015. This might seem far-fetched especially in the developing world, but it is possible if current rates of progress by The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria supported programs and other efforts are maintained and scaled up.

Speaking at the launch of the Global Fund’s 2010 Results report in Johannesburg recently, the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Professor Michel Kazatchkine spoke of the great strides achieved in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and Malaria through financial support from the Global Fund to countries. “Global Fund-supported programmes saved at least 3 600 lives per day in 2009 and an estimated total of 4,9million since its inception  in 2002. These are people who would otherwise be dead, had it not been for interventions supported by the Global Fund”, said Professor Kazatchkine.

Support from the Global Fund on HIV includes the provision of antiretroviral treatment to 2.5million people, with the AIDS mortality declining in many high-burden countries. 790 000 HIV positive pregnant women in low-and middle-income countries received antiretroviral prophylaxis to prevent mother to child transmission which represents 45 percent of coverage of women in need.

Six million people who had active TB were treated through the Global Fund by December 2009, with countries now being on track to meet the international target of halving TB prevalence by 2015. For Malaria, 104 million insecticide treated nets to prevent malaria were distributed. Swaziland and some island states and territories are now aspiring to enter the malaria pre-elimination stage. Professor Kazatchkine added that more work still needs to be done especially targeted at addressing women and children as they are particularly vulnerable.

With such success, the Global Fund is presenting a report in preparation for the Global Fund Replenishment Conference in October 2010 in New York, where the organisation will ask donors for financial contributions for 2011-2013. Three scenarios will be presented at the initial Replenishment review meeting in The Hague on 24 March. The scenarios range from US$13 to 20 billion for the three year period, showing the results that could be expected from each scenario. Professor Kazatchkine appealed to donor countries to open their purses at the replenishing meeting so that the work being done can continue.

The South African Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi who attended the launch thanked the Global Fund for selecting his country for the launch of the report. He highlighted South Africa’s commitment to the fight against HIV, TB and malaria. “The Global Fund has approved 109million US$ for South Africa under Round 9. We are working with Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Malawi and other neighbouring countries to eliminate malaria by 2020, and we are expecting the Global Fund to support such initiatives”, said Dr Motsoaledi. He echoed the South African Government’s commitment as a recipient from the Global Fund and also as a contributor to the fund.

Speaking at the launch, the Executive Director of UNAIDS and Under-Secretary General of the United Nations Mr Michel Sidibe thanked the Global Fund for launching the report on International Women’s Day, stressing that the report is about “results, results, results”. Mr Sidibe noted that the Global Fund has helped to change the architecture of assistance to the poor communities, resulting in governments increasing their own funding after receiving Global Fund resources. “Currently, for every two people on treatment, we have five new infections. This means that more need to be done on prevention and this can only happen with  a well funded Global Fund, otherwise the universal access we talk about, will turn into a universal nightmare”, said Mr Sidibe. He stressed that the zero-new infection is our dream and called on the media to support this initiative through positive reportage.

Sisonke Msimang, the Executive Director for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) said the Global Fund should prioritise issues of sexual and reproductive health, with a special focus on women and children as a means to eradicating mother to child transmission. She challenged the Global Fund to ensure it has country structures so that civil society knows where to go whenever they need information.
In the context of a crisis, funding is required even more especially in the developing world. The ball is in the court of the donor community to ensure the Global Fund is fully funded.