Global Fund and Inter-Parliamentary Union Sign MOU
23 March 2017
GENEVA – The Global Fund and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote mutual advocacy, engage in joint technical work and raise awareness in the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria and building resilient and sustainable systems for health.
The agreement is aimed at coordinating activities to engage parliamentarians around the world and inspire parliamentary action in the fight against the three diseases, including supporting national budget allocations in alignment with Global Fund counterpart financing principles.
The MOU was signed at the House of Parliaments in Geneva by Ambassador Anda Filip, Director of Division for Member Parliaments and External Relations for the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and Dr. Christoph Benn, Director of External Relations at the Global Fund in the presence of IPU Secretary-General Martin Chungong and Global Fund Board Chair Norbert Hauser.
The areas of joint advocacy and awareness-raising include HIV, TB, malaria, building resilient and sustainable systems for health, community system strengthening, human rights and gender equality.
Under the accord, the IPU and the Global Fund may seek to engage parliamentarians in proposing and/or supporting legislation to remove human rights barriers to health services, particularly with respect to key and vulnerable populations, and to fund measures that reduce stigma and prevent discrimination.
The two parties will also seek to strengthen cooperation in technical working groups by involving Global Fund technical experts to help build parliamentary capacity and input in the international response to HIV.
The IPU is the international organization of parliaments, and was established in 1889. It is the focal point for world-wide parliamentary dialogue and works for peace and co-operation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy.