Friends of the Fund

The network of Friends organizations supporting the Global Fund is as unique as its partnership model, providing different groups of stakeholders with equal rights of decision-making at the global and at the country levels. The Global Fund was created as a lean organization without country presence and an expensive bureaucracy. Soon after its creation in 2002, the Global Fund mission and vision inspired outstanding personalities around the world to commit their time, expertise and resources to help provide equitable health services to those people in the poorest countries who otherwise would die of preventable and treatable diseases with disastrous consequences for their families, communities and nations.

The broad range of stakeholders has led to the Global Fund having a growing role in the area of global health and development. Donors, implementers, civil society and communities are joining forces to make of the Global Fund not only an important financing mechanism but also a forum where needs, strategies and policies related to health are discussed at the local and the global levels. Such an enabling environment for public/private partnerships – together with the successful efforts of the Global Fund in the fight against the three diseases – has led many stakeholders, including civil society, communities, celebrities, academics and both the private and the public sectors to feel the need to establish organizations aimed at promoting a good understanding of the mission of the Global Fund as well as at mobilizing political and financial support for the Global Fund.