CIFF Commits Additional US$50 Million to the Global Fund to Scale Up TB Diagnosis
Global Fund urges further investment to close the remaining TB funding gap.
23 September 2025
NEW YORK/GENEVA – The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) today announced a US$50 million commitment to accelerate the introduction and rollout of innovative diagnostics for tuberculosis (TB). This marks the Foundation’s first-ever investment in TB, building on its experience in HIV diagnostic innovation to accelerate access to life-saving technologies and promote integration across health systems and disease areas. CIFF’s commitment is in addition to its US$150 million commitment to break the cycle of HIV transmission made earlier this year.
TB is inherently connected to other disease areas, often appearing as a comorbidity alongside malnutrition, HIV and other conditions that weaken the immune system.
While the recent results report from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) showed that 7.4 million people were treated for TB in 2024, the disease still kills 1.3 million people annually and is the leading cause of death for those with HIV. The world is off track to reach the global goals of reducing TB deaths by 90% and incidence by 80% by 2030. There is an urgent need to accelerate progress – and faster ways to accurately detect TB could make an enormous difference. Globally, less than half of people with TB currently receive a molecular test as their initial diagnostic, despite a commitment made at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on TB to reach 100% by 2027. New innovations have the potential to transform TB detection by enabling rapid, accurate and affordable testing in more local and accessible settings, including primary health care facilities.
Working with countries, the Global Fund and CIFF will support the procurement of new diagnostic platforms and tests, as well as access to technical assistance for implementation programming. Led by national TB programs and integrated with HIV testing and treatment, the first phase of this work will inform large-scale rollout in the subsequent grant cycle.
Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund, said, “We have a unique opportunity to revolutionize TB testing. These new diagnostic innovations could enable countries to diagnose more people, more quickly, at much lower cost—and ensure testing reaches people when and where they need it. CIFF’s visionary investment sends a powerful signal that TB innovation is worth backing.”
Sir Chris Hohn, Founder and Chair of CIFF, said, “The suffering caused by TB, felt predominantly by the most vulnerable in society, is a moral outrage. Treating and preventing TB is both cost effective and scalable, and with new ways to detect TB we can save many lives. Now is the time for donors and philanthropists to do more. I welcome the Global Fund’s call to action, to raise the funding needed for a future where everyone can live without fear of this deadly disease.”
CIFF’s landmark investment will accelerate progress toward closing the persistent gap in TB detection, with nearly 3 million people each year going undiagnosed. Near point-of-care testing represents a vital breakthrough, bringing accurate, timely diagnostics closer to patients and communities. It is an intervention that can be applied across multiple disease areas, helping to overcome the barriers of distance, infrastructure and delay that have historically limited access to care. It will also advance the broader vision of universal health coverage by ensuring that life-saving diagnostics are more accessible to everyone, everywhere.