News Releases

Global Fund Praises Germany’s Commitment to the ACT-Accelerator and the COVID-19 Response Mechanism

25 March 2022

Globaler Fonds lobt das deutsche Engagement für den ACT-Accelerator und den COVID-19-Reaktionsmechanismus
download in Deutsch

GENEVA – The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria commends the announcement by Development Minister Svenja Schulze on the occasion of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day to make available an additional €175 million to the Global Fund's COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM), pending parliamentary approval.

The new funding will help strengthen formal and community systems for health in low- and middle-income countries, protect front-line health workers with training and personal protective equipment (PPE), reduce the inequality in accessing tests and treatments, and mitigate the knock-on impact of COVID-19 on programs to fight HIV, TB and malaria.

Countries around the world leveraged some of the best assets in the fight against TB to combat COVID-19. Community health workers, laboratories, diagnostic equipment, disease surveillance systems and other TB investments put in place over the years gave countries a leg up in the fight against the new pandemic. But COVID-19 reversed many hard-fought gains. Deaths from TB rose for the first time in more than a decade, fueled by a surge in undiagnosed and untreated cases.

The contribution is part of Germany’s sustained commitment to the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator – a groundbreaking collaboration of global partners to accelerate the development, production and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, PPE and vaccines.

A key supporter of the Global Fund since its inception, Germany is one of the Global Fund’s largest donors. “Germany’s unfailing support to the Global Fund over the last 20 years has greatly contributed to strengthening systems for health across the world,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “COVID-19’s deadly global impact has shown that we must fight existing pandemics and prepare for future health threats at the same time. Investing in resilient, sustainable systems for health is the most effective way to defeat HIV, TB and malaria, strengthen global health security and achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of health and well-being for all.”

Through C19RM, the Global Fund is the primary channel for providing grant support to low- and middle-income countries for COVID-19 tests, treatments (including medical oxygen), PPE and critical elements of health systems strengthening. To date, Germany has been supporting the C19RM response mechanism with €290 million to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the control of other infectious diseases.

It is also critical to avoid treatment disruption that can cause drug-resistant TB, which is part of the growing challenge of antimicrobial-resistant superbugs that do not respond to existing medications, resulting in fewer treatment options and increasing death rates for illnesses that would ordinarily be curable.

The Global Fund will hold its Seventh Replenishment conference in the United States in the second half of 2022, aiming to raise US$18 billion to restore progress against AIDS, TB and malaria amid COVID-19 disruption and build more inclusive, resilient and sustainable systems for health. The conference will convene leaders from governments, civil society, the private sector and communities affected by the three most devastating infectious diseases.