#BiyaMacron : Advocacy for Increased France Global Fund Contribution

As the French President Emmanuel Macron discusses issues of common interest during his official visit to Cameroon, he will also look into an advocacy for his country to step up financial contribution to the Global Fund.

The Global Fund announced on February 23, 2022 that a total of $18 billion will be required to save 20 million lives from HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis from now by 2030.

It is an announcement that came shortly after the preparatory meeting ahead of the 7th Global Fund Replenishment Conference co-hosted by five countries – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa.

France is one of the countries expected to step up its health spending to the global health fund.

Prior to the President’s official visit, Impact Santé Afrique and over 500 international health and other civil society organizations jointly made a call for France to step up its contribution to the fund by 30%.

Yannick Noah with whom the French president will hold discussions at the Village Noah, is expected to channel this request to the Head of State. The legendary sports man recently joined the fight against Malaria.

Twenty Fruitful Years of Fighting Pandemics

The Global Fund has made significant progress in rolling back these deadly diseases in the world within the last 20 years. But the health organization says there’s still a long way to go.

“Our target is to raise at least US$18 billion. This is the minimum required to get the world back on track toward ending HIV, TB and malaria, to build resilient and sustainable systems for health and strengthen pandemic preparedness, making the world more equitable and safer from future threats.” The Global Fund says

According to Impact Santé Afrique, a Non-governmental African Organization, led by young women with the objective of eliminating Malaria, HIV/AIDS and other health problems, 66 million Tuberculosis cases and and 1.7 billion cases of Malaria have been prevented since 2000 thanks to efforts of the international community.

The health organ says “the Global Fund has saved 44 million lives, reduced mortality from the three diseases by 40%, increased antiretroviral coverage from 4% in 2005 to 73% in 2020, and reduced the number of deaths attributable to Malaria by 26% between 2002 and 2020”.

In 2020 alone, the Global Fund is said to have contributed to 22% drop in HIV screenings, an 18% drop in people being treated for Tuberculosis. Sadly, Malaria control efforts efforts witnessed an a stagnation.

Worrisome Figures

Despite the progress made, the Global Fund reveals startling figures on the prevalence of these diseases.
“Nearly 38 million people are still living with HIV and 700,000 died from it in 2020. Malaria is still rampant in 87 countries around the world with more than 3 billion people exposed to this disease. In 2020, Tuberculosis caused the death of 1.5 million people, making it the second deadliest infectious disease, second only to Covid-19.” The Global Fund

In addition to these worrisome figures are setbacks that must be dealt with now including; limited access to quality and low-cost medicines, the heavy burden of discrimination and stigmatization, the lack of recognition and appreciation of the work of community health workers (CHWs) and the limited resources of civil society organizations to reach the most vulnerable populations.

France is not the only country expected to invest more into the Global Fund. Canada, Switzerland and Belgium are also among countries expected to step up their contribution to the Global Fund to ensure improved access to health care and protection of humanity from the pandemics.

The Global Fund is also planning on ultimately increasing spending on tackling these diseases and building resilient health systems that can protect the world from these diseases and other infections.

Kathy Neba Sina

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