09 October 2019
LYON, France – At the opening of the Sixth Replenishment conference, the Global Fund announced a range of private sector partners that will spur innovation to accelerate the end to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, the world’s deadliest infectious diseases.
Nine private sector organizations are making new commitments to help solve critical challenges with innovative mobile and digital technology, consumer goods and finance that provide crucial technical expertise and know-how.
“The Global Fund needs forward-thinking and innovative approaches if we are to end the epidemics of AIDS, TB and malaria,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “These commitments exemplify the private sector’s expertise to help break down barriers to access health services and accelerate the fight.”
The event in Lyon showcased how private sector commitments are supporting the development of new and better products, such as better formulations for children to treat HIV, TB and malaria, simpler and cheaper diagnostics, and long-acting treatments, as well as reducing the time products take to reach patients.
“The private sector can play a transformational role when it comes to ending the world’s deadliest infectious diseases,” said Sherwin Charles, the Global Fund Board Member representing the private sector, and CEO of Goodbye Malaria. “We need continued investment in new technologies, health innovations and greater efficiency. This will accelerate access to newer and more effective tools.”
The new partnerships are framed to innovate solutions that improve access to medicines, products and health services, particularly for those in hard to reach areas and those that need them most.
To harness the expertise of technology companies, the Global Fund will work with Mastercard, Orange, The Rockefeller Foundation; and also with Google Cloud and Microsoft to focus on identifying people with TB in India:
Today's pledges build on those made by private sector partners earlier this year and during the World Economic Forum in Africa. These include Project Last Mile (with Coca Cola, USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), GBCHealth, Africa Health Business, PharmAccess and Zenysis Technologies.
The Global Fund’s investment case underlines that more innovation in diagnostics, prevention, treatment and delivery models is needed to get back on track to ending the epidemics. Only through innovation can the threat of resistance be countered, can the poorest and most marginalized be reached, and the root causes of concentrated epidemics be tackled.
French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment pledging conference, being held today and tomorrow in Lyon. The Global Fund seeks to raise at least US$14 billion – US$1 billion from the private sector – for the next three years. The funds will help save 16 million lives, cut the mortality rate from HIV, TB and malaria in half, and build stronger health systems by 2023.