News Releases

Global Fund investments deliver AIDS treatment to 1.4 million people

30 November 2007

3.3 Million People Treated with Anti-TB drugs

Geneva - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today announced that more than 1.4 million people living with HIV have been reached with lifesaving antiretroviral (ARV) treatment through AIDS programs it supports, nearly doubling results reported last year.

The Global Fund and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the U.S. government's initiative to combat the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, together provide financing for most major programs for AIDS treatment and prevention in developing countries.

"Together, PEPFAR and the Global Fund are driving the roll-out of AIDS treatment, care and prevention programs," said Dr Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global. "The continued effort between PEPFAR and the Global Fund to coordinate and to complement each other’s effort is translating into strong results on the ground. Only weeks ago, Ambassador Dybul and I saw this synergy at work when we visited highly effective AIDS programs in Haiti that are funded jointly by the Global Fund and PEPFAR."

Ambassador Mark Dybul is the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator. PEPFAR will release their results figures separately.

The Global Fund also reported progress in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) with more than 3.3 million people treated with effective anti-TB drugs through programs it is funding. TB is the leading cause of death among HIV-infected people; the World Health Organization estimates that TB accounts for up to a third of AIDS deaths worldwide.

Earlier this week, the Global Fund announced that programs it supports in the fight against malaria have so far delivered a total of 46 million bed nets to families at risk of contracting the disease, representing an increase of 155 percent over last year's result of 18 million.

Results at a glance:

Intervention Dec. 2006 Mid 2007 Dec. 2007

Increase
over one year

HIV:
People on ARV treatment
770,000 1.1 million 1.4 million 88%
TB:
Cases treated under DOTS
2 million 2.8 million 3.3 million 65%

Malaria:
ITNs distributed

18 million 30 million 46 million 155%

The results reported today are the aggregated results from individual programs supported by the Global Fund. The quality of the results is assured through the work of the Global Fund’s verifying agency in each country and independent data and systems reviews.

"These results are the living proof that Global Fund investments are working," said Rajat Gupta, Global Fund Board Chair. "These positive figures should be an incentive to all donors, partners and the many health professionals working in the field to continue to bring the fight against the three diseases to a new level in the years to come."

At the Global Fund Board Meeting held in China earlier this month, the Board approved a seventh round of funding of 73 new grants worth more than US$ 1.1 billion over two years, which brought the total approved funding amount to US$ 9.8 billion for more than 520 programs in 136 countries.