Global Fund Overview

The Global Fund is a financing institution, providing support to countries in the response to the three diseases; we do not implement programs on the ground. Global Fund staff, all based in Geneva, Switzerland, come from all professional backgrounds and from more than 100 different countries.

By challenging barriers and embracing innovative approaches, the Global Fund partnership strives for maximum impact. Working together, we have saved millions of lives and provided prevention, treatment and care services to hundreds of millions of people, helping to revitalize entire communities, strengthen local health systems and improve economies.

"The Global Fund is one of the best and kindest things people have ever done for one another. It is a fantastic vehicle for scaling up the treatments and preventive tools we have today – to make sure they reach the people who need them."
Bill Gates at the Opening Ceremony of the 16th International AIDS Conference

A 21st-century partnership

Only through partnership and constant evolution can the Global Fund achieve the collective vision of a world free of the burden of HIV, TB and malaria. Partnership means continual growth, driven by mutual respect, shared responsibility and a strong commitment by all.

A 21st-century partnership takes a modern approach to global health: to be effective, it must be agile, responsive and committed to serving communities affected by HIV, TB and malaria. It must also reach beyond the mindset of paternalistic aid that sometimes created obstacles in the past. With a more modern outlook, countries take the lead in determining where and how best to fight diseases, how to respond to broader development challenges, and how to coordinate work with international partners in global health. They also plan on how to use their increased domestic finances to leverage external resources to build resilient and sustainable systems for health.

With implementing countries in the lead, partners can take a differentiated approach to investment. That means the partnership’s investments are informed by the specific needs and characteristics of each country, as well as the divergent needs of communities most affected by diseases. Working together, partnership can deliver healthier and more productive and stable families, communities and nations.

Principles

Partnership

The only way to end AIDS, TB and malaria as epidemics is by working together: Governments, civil society, communities affected by the diseases, technical partners, the private sector, faith-based organizations, and other funders. All those involved in the response to the diseases should be involved in the decision-making process.

Country ownership

People implementing programs on the ground know best how to respond to HIV, TB and malaria in their local contexts. Country ownership means that people determine their own solutions to fighting these three diseases, and take full responsibility for them. Each country tailors its response to the political, cultural and epidemiological context.

Performance-based funding

Ongoing financing depends upon performance and proven results, carefully monitored and verified by Local Fund Agents.

Transparency

The Global Fund operates with a high degree of transparency in all of its work, including applications for funding, funding decisions, grant performance, results, governance, and oversight. All audits and investigations by the Office of the Inspector General are openly published. The Global Fund also fully supports and participates in the International Aid Transparency Initiative.

Core structures

Board

Our Board sets strategy, governs the institution and approves all funding decisions. It is also responsible for assessing organizational performance, overall risk management, partner engagement, resource mobilization and advocacy. The Board includes members from donor and implementer governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, private foundations and affected communities.

Country Coordinating Mechanism

Each implementing country establishes a national committee, or Country Coordinating Mechanism, to submit requests for funding on behalf of the entire country, and to oversee implementation once the request has become a signed grant. Country Coordinating Mechanisms include representatives of every sector involved in the response to the diseases.

Staff

The staff of the Global Fund are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Global Fund, primarily managing grants.

Technical Review Panel

An independent body of health, development and finance experts, the Technical Review Panel evaluates the technical merit of all requests for funding.

Local Fund Agent

Local Fund Agents are independent consultants who assess implementation and data. As the Global Fund does not have a presence in country, Local Fund Agents serve as eyes and ears on the ground.

Principal Recipient

Principal Recipients are responsible for implementing grants, including coordination of other, smaller organizations, known as sub-recipients. Principal Recipients take on the financial as well as the programmatic responsibilities of the grant.

Office of the Inspector General

Oversight and assurance are also provided by the Office of the Inspector General, an independent body reporting directly to the Board that works to ensure that the Global Fund invests in the most effective way possible and to reduce the risk of misused funds.

History of the Global Fund

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created in 2002 to raise, manage and invest the world’s money to respond to three of the deadliest infectious diseases the world has ever known. The mission of the Global Fund is to invest the world’s money to defeat these three diseases.

The idea for the Global Fund arose from a wellspring of grass-roots political advocacy coming face-to-face with the imperatives of global leadership. AIDS, TB and malaria are all preventable and treatable – but solving this problem requires the commitment not only of world leaders and decision-makers but also of those working on the ground to help the men, women and children living with these diseases.

“When I first mooted the idea of the Global Fund, people said I was dreaming….I love dreams. It always starts with a dream.”
Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations

The idea was discussed at a G8 summit in Okinawa, Japan, in 2000. The real commitment began to coalesce at the African Union summit in April 2001, continued at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session in June of that year, and was finally endorsed by the G8 at their summit in Genoa in July 2001. A Transitional Working Group was established to determine the principles and working modalities of the new organization, and the Global Fund came into being in January 2002.

A brief overview of milestones in the Global Fund’s history:

2000
	AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria together cause more than 4 million deaths per year.
2001
July	Transitional Working Group established
2002
January	The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is constituted as a private Swiss foundation hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) at the First Board Meeting. Secretariat established in Geneva, Switzerland.
February	Round 1 Call for Proposals launched.
April	Second Board Meeting held. Approval of Round 1 for a total amount of US$600 million for 36 countries.
July	Round 2 Call for Proposals is launched. Dr Richard Feachem (UK) is selected as Executive Director.
October	Third Board Meeting held in Geneva.
December	The Global Fund makes its first disbursement of US$1 million.
2003
January	Fourth Board Meeting held. Board approves Round 2 – US$900 million in grants to 72 countries.
March	Round 3 Call for Proposals is launched.
June	Fifth Board Meeting held.
August	Total disbursements to countries surpass US$100 million.
October	Sixth Board Meeting held in Chiang Mai, Thailand (first Board Meeting held in an implementing country). Board approves Round 3 – more than US$600 million for 61 countries.
December	Disbursements at the end of 2003 total US$232 million.
2004
March	Seventh Board Meeting held in Geneva. Round 4 Call for Proposals is launched.
June	Eighth Board Meeting held in Geneva. Board approves Round 4 grants totaling US$968 million for 69 grants in 50 countries.
November	Ninth Board Meeting held in Arusha, Tanzania (first Board Meeting held in Africa).
2005
March	Launch of Round 5 Call for Proposals.
April	Tenth Board Meeting held in Geneva.
September	Eleventh Board Meeting held in Geneva; Round 5 proposals are approved for US$382 million for 26 grants in 20 countries.
December	Twelfth Board Meeting held in Marrakech, Morocco. Board votes to fully fund Round 5, bringing the total allocated for new grants to US$719 million.
	At 31 December, US$1.9 billion has been disbursed.
2006
April	Thirteenth Board Meeting held in Geneva. The Round 6 Call for Proposals is launched. Dr. Feachem’s term is completed. The Board selects Prof Michel Kazatchkine (France) as Executive Director.
December	Results include: 770,000 people on ARVs 2 million people treated for TB 18 million insecticide-treated nets delivered US$1.9 billion has been disbursed.
2007
April	Fifteenth Board Meeting held in Geneva.
November	Sixteenth Board Meeting held in Kunming, China. Board approves 73 grants in Round 7 of funding for a total of US$1.1 billion, bringing total number of countries supported to 136.
September	The Global Fund’s Second Replenishment concludes with a total amount of US$9.7 billion pledged for the period 2008-2010.
November	Board approves 73 grants in Round 7 of funding for a total of US$1.1 billion, bringing total number of countries supported to 136.
December	Results include: 1.4 million people on antiretrovirals 3.3 million people treated for TB 46 million insecticide-treated nets distributed
2008
March	Round 8 Call for Proposals launched.
April	Seventeenth Board Meeting held in Geneva.
November	Eighteenth Board Meeting held in New Delhi, India. Board approves 94 Round 8 grants for a total value of US$2.75 billion – the highest amount ever approved. Round 9 Call for Proposals launched.
December	Ended Administrative Services Agreement with WHO and became an autonomous organization.
	Results include: 2 million people on antiretrovirals 4.6 million people treated for TB 70 million insecticide-treated nets distributed Donor contributions in 2008 total US$3 billion.
2009
May	The Nineteenth Board Meeting takes place in Geneva.
November	Twentieth Board Meeting takes place in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. Board approves Round 9 grants for a total value of US$2.4 billion.
December	Results include: 2.5 million people on antiretrovirals 6 million people treated for TB 104 million insecticide-treated nets distributed Donor contributions in 2009 total US$3.2 billion.
2010
March	The preparatory meeting for the Third Replenishment is held in The Hague, Netherlands. Global Fund launches its Born HIV Free campaign, in support of efforts to implement prevention of mother-to-child transmission services.
October	At a meeting at the United Nations in New York, donors pledge US$9.2 billion in support for the Third Replenishment period 2011-2013.
2011
January	News reports cite misused funds by sub-recipients of grants by the Global Fund in four countries.
March	A High-Level Panel convened to examine the Global Fund’s financial oversight and risk management.
September	High-Level Panel issues a report calling for structural changes in the Global Fund’s business model and specific improvements in management practices and financial oversight.
November	Board decides to suspend Round 11 due to shortage of available funding and to implement changes to the funding model in order to make it more strategic, more predictable and more responsive.
December	Results include: 3.3 million people on ARVs 8.6 million people treated for TB 230 million insecticide-treated nets distributed Donor contributions in 2011 total US$3 billion.
2012
February	Gabriel Jaramillo, a former banker and turnaround expert, begins a one-year term as General Manager to oversee a comprehensive transformation of the organization. Prof Michel Kazatchkine resigns as Executive Director.
March	Transformation realigns workforce with a sharp increase in staff working on core business of grant management, and a special focus on high-impact countries, along with a corresponding decrease in staff in support functions.
May	At its Twenty-sixth Meeting, in Geneva, the Board reviewed available funding.
September	The Twenty-seventh Board Meeting was held in Geneva to consider elements of the proposed new funding model as well as the Affordable Medicines Facility – malaria initiative.
November	During the Twenty-eighth Board Meeting, held in Geneva, the Board approved the new funding model. Board selects Dr Mark Dybul (U.S.) as the Global Fund’s third Executive Director.
December	Results include: 4.2 million people on ARVs 9.7 million people treated for TB 310 million insecticide-treated nets distributed Donor contributions in 2012 total US$3.2 billion.
2013
March	The Global Fund transitions into its new funding model by inviting select early applicants and interim applicants to submit concept notes for funding.
April	At a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, the Global Fund launches its Fourth Replenishment, seeking financing for the period 2014-2016.
June	The Twenty-ninth Board Meeting held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Among other decisions, the Board appointed a new Inspector General. The Board awards grants to the first three countries to receive funding under the new funding model.
November	Thirtieth Board Meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland. Topics of discussion include the renewal of committee leadership and key performance indicators for the organization.
December	The Global Fund’s Fourth Replenishment, is hosted by the Obama administration at the White House and launches the 2014-2016 replenishment cycle with a total amount of US$12 billion pledged.
	Results include: 6.1 million people on antiretrovirals 11.2 million people treated for TB 360 million insecticide-treated nets distributed
2014
March	Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, Board Members finalize key elements of the new funding model, set aside money for various special initiatives and appoint committee members at the Thirty-First Board Meeting. The UK charity Comic Relief announces that it has raised £2 million for the Global Fund.
June	Working with partners, the Global Fund announces new framework contracts with a group of selected suppliers of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), the international standard for treating malaria. It is estimated that the agreements will save partners more than US$100 million over two years through price reductions.
November	The Thirty-Second Board Meeting is held in Montreux, Switzerland. The Board discusses a plan to reform its governance structure as well as risk management issues.
December	The Board appoints Mouhamadou Diagne (Senegal) as Inspector General.
2015
April	At its Thirty-Third Meeting, the Board selects Norbert Hauser (Germany) to serve as its next Chair and Aida Kurtovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) as Vice-Chair. The Global Fund launches an online platform as a key element for the development of its 2017-2022 strategy. To ensure that human rights under Global Fund-supported programs are respected, a new process for reporting any violations is launched.
May	The first of three Partnership Forums is held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Participants debated a number of key issues related to the Global Fund’s strategy, including gender issues, key populations and sustainability.
June	The second Partnership Forum is held in Bangkok, Thailand with more than 100 participants.
September	The third and final Partnership Forum held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
November	Thirty-Fourth Board Meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland.
December	Fifth Replenishment began with High-level Meeting held in Tokyo, Japan, hosted by Prime Minister Shinto Abe.
2016
April	Thirty-Fifth Board Meeting is held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Board approves the 2017-2022 strategy, Investing to End Epidemics.
September	Pledging conference for Global Fund's Fifth Replenishment is held in Montréal, Canada, hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Donor countries, foundations, and private donors pledge US$12.9 billion for the 2017-2019 period.
November	At its Thirty-Sixth Meeting, held in Montreux, Switzerland, the Board launched its search for a new executive director, as Mark Dybul's term will finish in May 2017. The Board also approved the allocations to countries for 2017-2019.

Learn more about the programs that the Global Fund supports.

News & Stories

Published 01 May 2017