Geneva – The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today announced that it has opened its e-Forum, a series of themed online discussions that contribute to the Global Fund's major meeting of stakeholders, the Partnership Forum, which will be held in December.  

Under the theme “Listening to the Voices: Stronger and More Effective Partnership for Sustained Impact,” discussions will focus on strategies to increase the gender responsiveness of the Global Fund, measures to better address unmet needs, improvements to the ways in which Global Fund stakeholders work together and ways to further increase the effectiveness of Global Fund partnerships. One of the major points of reference for these discussions will be the results of the Five-Year Evaluation, an external assessment of the Global Fund which is currently underway.

Participation in the e-Forum is open to anyone who wishes to contribute. Previous forums have been driven by comments from grant recipients and people living with the diseases, civil society, donors and recipient governments, the private sector including businesses and foundations, board members, development agencies and technical and research agencies. Discussions on the e-Forum are moderated, summarized and translated into four of the United Nations’ official languages: English, French, Spanish and Russian.
The e-Forum is an integral part of the Partnership Forum, an important part of the Global Fund's governance structure that gives stakeholders a voice in Global Fund decisions. The Partnership Forum takes place every two years and provides a platform for open and frank discussions on Global Fund strategies and policies. Its recommendations give guidance to the decisions taken by the Global Fund Board. The 2008 Partnership Forum will be held from 8 - 10 December in Dakar, Senegal.

Since only a limited number of Global Fund stakeholders will be able to attend the Partnership Forum, the e-Forum provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to contribute to the discussions.
The e-Forum is hosted on MyGlobalFund.org, a community site for health professionals and people involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
The e-Forum will be open for discussion until 3 October. It is accessible at www.myglobalfund.org/eforum/

The Global Fund is a unique global public/private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities represents a new approach to international health financing. The Global Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts dealing with the three diseases.

Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the dominant financer of programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, with approved funding of US$ 10.7 billion for more than 550 programs in 136 countries. To date, programs supported by the Global Fund have averted two million deaths through providing AIDS treatment for 1.4 million people, anti-tuberculosis treatment for 3.3 million people and the distribution of 46 million insecticide-treated bed nets for the prevention of malaria.
The Global Fund provides more than 20 percent of international funding to fight AIDS, as well as two-thirds of international funding to fight malaria and tuberculosis.
 Global Fund Contacts:
Jon Liden - Head, Communications
Office: +41 22 791 17 23
Mobile: +41 79 244 60 06
Email: email("jon.liden", "theglobalfund", "org"); jon.liden@theglobalfund.org
Nicolas Demey - Communications Officer
Office: +41 22 791 59 57
Mobile: +41 79 504 21 34
Email: email("nicolas.demey", "theglobalfund", "org"); nicolas.demey@theglobalfund.org 
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