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Global Fund Partnership Has Saved 32 Million Lives

September 26, 2019
HIV AIDS

This just in! Programs supported by the Global Fund (*cough cough* the organization that receives all (RED) dollars) have saved 32 MILLION lives– and no, that’s not a typo.

This news comes from the Global Fund’s Results Report 2019. The report shows major progress in the fight to end AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, but it also highlights some new threats.

The Global Fund invests more than US$1 billion in creating stronger, sustainable health systems each year and provides 20% of all international financing for HIV programs. Pretty impressive, huh?

In 2018 in countries where the Global Fund invests:

  • 125 million HIV tests were taken
  • 18.9 million people accessed antiretroviral therapy for HIV
  • 719,000 HIV-positive mothers received medicine to keep them alive and healthy and prevented the transmission of HIV to their babies
  • 8.3 million people reached with HIV prevention services

In countries where the Global Fund invests, AIDS-related deaths have dropped by 56% since the Global Fund was founded in 2002. And what’s even crazier? Without HIV prevention and treatment measures, deaths would have increased by 138% in the same period.

While the Global Fund partnership (clearly) continues to have a massive impact, this report shows that new threats, like drug resistance and stalled funding, have pushed the world off track to end AIDS, TB, and malaria by 2030.

The Results Report 2019 was released just a few weeks before the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment Conference in Lyon, France on October 10th. Reminder–at the Replenishment Conference, the Global Fund is seeking to raise at least US$14 billion for the next three years. If this funding goal is met, they’ll be able to help save 16 million MORE lives and cut the mortality rates from HIV, TB, and malaria in half by 2023.

Though we’ve come so far, we still have a lot of work to do to end these epidemics by 2030. There’s absolutely no time to waste. We must step up the fight and act now.