27 January 2006
Executive Director applauds announcement
Davos - “ The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria welcomes with enthusiasm the announcement of a new Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis (2006-2015) made today by the StopTB partnership. "We join in the call for support of this initiative by G8 nations and others, made at the World Economic Forum by President Obasanjo, Gordon Brown and Bill Gates, and applaud the pledge by the Gates Foundation to triple its funding for tuberculosis interventions over the coming decade.
The Global Fund is the primary financing instrument for the global fight against TB, accounting for two-thirds of annual international expenditures to fight the disease, and is committed to playing a central role in the implementation of this important plan. To effectively do so, the Global Fund urgently requires additional resources for 2006-2007 in order to sustain and expand its support for country-driven programs fighting TB around the world. The Global Fund's existing TB investments have to begun to have an impact, with more than a million people across its young portfolio treated with effective medications.
Richard Feachem
Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria