2023

  • 12 December 2023
    Celebrating Universal Health Coverage In Nigeria

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, with over 200 million people. It’s a vibrant country full of entrepreneurial energy and talent, but it’s also a country affected by poverty and disease. Almost 90 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty. So...
  • Patrick Fouda is a 27-year-old Cameroonian organizer and social entrepreneur who is on the way up. When he was 23, he was inspired to co-found the Cameroon Network of HIV-positive Adolescents and Youth (RECAJ+) to respond to the social inequalities a...
  • 02 December 2023
    Ending AIDS Among Children Can Be An Inspiration Toward Ending All Preventable Deaths Among Children

    By Chip Lyons, President & CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund

    In a world where those with less power and privilege are often forgotten, the welfare of children stands out. Even though they cannot advocate for themselves, or perhaps because of this, the world hasn’t done enough to stop preventable deaths among c...
  • 02 December 2023
    Against A Foe As Formidable As HIV, Anything Less Than Victory Is Creating A Future Problem

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    With another World AIDS Day behind us, we reflect on the nearly 40 million people who have lost their lives to this terrible disease. Yet we should also recognize the extraordinary progress we have made in combatting HIV and AIDS. Since 2002, in coun...
  • 01 December 2023
    We Must Not Let Climate Change Derail The Fight Against Malaria

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria

    The world is at a defining moment in the fight against malaria. After years of rapid advances against the disease, progress stalled around 2015. Since then, the malaria community has faced a cascade of challenges, including drug and insecticide resis...
  • 01 December 2023
    Communities Affected by HIV Will Write the Last Chapter of the Disease

    By Dr. Vuyiseka Dubula, Head of Community Rights and Gender, the Global Fund

    Dramatic changes have shaped the fight against HIV in the last 20 years. Highly effective antiretroviral therapy existed at the turn of the millennium – but only in rich countries. For people living in low- and middle-income countries – like my home ...
  • The French association Élus Locaux Contre le Paludisme (ELCP) is sounding the alarm about the increased risk of malaria on the African continent due to climate change. The group is calling for international solidarity and urging France to step up its...
  • 17 November 2023
    As the Climate Crisis Escalates, Building Resilient Health Systems Is Imperative

    By Hon. Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, MP, Minister of Health, Malawi

    When torrential rains from Cyclone Freddy unleashed a flood in Malawi earlier this year, the extreme weather event claimed more than 1,000 lives and upended the livelihoods of millions of people. The floods also swept away a wealth of essential healt...
  • 10 November 2023
    To Prevent the Next Pandemic, Follow the Science

    By Marisa Peyre, Co-founder and Global Science Adviser, PREZODE, Justin Vaïsse, Founder and Director General, Paris Peace Forum, and Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical role of evidence-based policies in addressing global health crises. It has also highlighted the need for flexible strategies, equitable health care, and multidisciplinary approaches that bridge the g...
  • 07 November 2023
    Taking a Smart Approach to Making Medicines in Africa Will Save Lives

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    COVID-19 shone a harsh light on global health inequities. Africa was last in the queue for all the lifesaving tools needed to defeat the new virus, including vaccines, tests, oxygen and personal protective equipment. Yet this is not a new phenomenon...
  • 07 November 2023
    In the Fight to End Tuberculosis, This Is the Moment for Progress

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    Tuberculosis is rarely in the spotlight. But behind the scenes it’s one of the top infectious killers in the world. In 2022 alone, TB killed over 1.3 million people, including 167,000 people with HIV — that’s a staggering 25,000 deaths every week. De...
  • 21 September 2023
    Stopping Malaria From Killing Children is a Matter of Urgency

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    I was in Kano, an ancient city in the north of Nigeria recently, visiting health facilities with Nigeria’s impressive new health minister professor Muhammad Ali Pate. This week I’ll be in New York, along with the leaders of nearly 200 countries and m...
  • 19 September 2023
    For the Fight Against HIV, TB and Malaria, a Moment of Reckoning

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    The heads of state and government from nearly 200 countries gathering this week in New York for the United Nations General Assembly must confront the stark reality that the Sustainable Development Goals are in dire jeopardy. This year marks the midpo...
  • How the global fight against HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria is an opportunity for India’s pharmaceutical industry and other private-sector companies.
  • 14 July 2023
    Japan’s Fight Against TB Can Be a Roadmap for Pandemic Preparedness

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    In March this year, I visited Japan for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Although I have been to the country several times before, every time I walk Tokyo’s vibrant streets I am still struck by the sheer volume of people who live, work and...
  • 29 June 2023
    Pop-Up Booths to the Rescue in the Fight Against TB in Kenya

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    In August 2022 Josphat Muoki, a father of four from Nairobi, Kenya, discovered he had TB when he stopped at a pop-up screening station on a busy pedestrian bridge over Nairobi Central Railway Station. The bridge links the city and the industrial zone...
  • 16 June 2023
    It’s Time to Overcome Gender Inequality in the Fight Against HIV

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    Last year I met a woman called Shani Ally in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Shani leads a full life as a mother, wife and small-business owner. She has also been on HIV treatment for more than 20 years. That treatment has kept her alive and prevented the t...
  • 25 May 2023
    One Mozambican Woman’s Fight Against Malaria – “the Devil” That Took Her Husband’s Life

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    “Malaria is the devil that came to my house,” Celina Tembe says softly, her hand touching the head of her 3-year-old daughter, Manuela Manuel. In August last year, her 35-year-old husband, Manuel Maxaieie, came home late from work as a machine operat...
  • 10 May 2023
    The Challenge of Malaria

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    In February 2020, just before COVID-19 made such trips impossible, I visited a village in the Kongo Central province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and talked to a community health worker, called François Mvueki. Looking at his daily logbook...
  • 05 May 2023
    Felled by a Warming World: Will Malaria Be the Next Pandemic?

    By Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund

    The next global health crisis might not be another pandemic caused by a novel respiratory infection. Instead, we could see climate change dramatically increasing the threat from an existing infectious disease–for example, malaria, a disease that kill...