Global Fund Launches Private Sector Investment Opportunity Ahead of Critical Eighth Replenishment
23 January 2025
Private sector engagement opens pathways for a game-changing US$2 billion investment opportunity in the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
DAVOS – In a World Economic Forum plenary on Wednesday, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) presented an investment opportunity that invites businesses, philanthropic leaders and foundations to invest in accelerating progress in the fight against the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. This investment opportunity is part of a larger fundraising effort that will be launched in the coming weeks. The Global Fund aims to raise US$2 billion from private donors, an investment that would yield a 19-to-1 return on investment in health and economic gains and save over 2 million lives.
The Global Fund partnership brings together the resources and expertise of governments, the private sector and civil society to accelerate the response to HIV, TB and malaria and strengthen pandemic preparedness. The private and philanthropic sectors have played a pivotal role in funding health programs, developing lifesaving pharmaceuticals and pioneering technological innovations.
“Private sector innovation and investment have been a relentless force for good in the fight against HIV, TB and malaria,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “Our partners have driven advances from next-generation mosquito nets, to long-acting injectable PrEP, to AI-enhanced X-ray diagnosis, and they are expanding access to other innovative health tools. We invite the private sector to build on these achievements, scale up impact, and ultimately create a world free from these deadly diseases. Together, we can transform millions of lives and strengthen health systems that are the foundation of global health security.”
The private sector’s catalytic role is especially critical in accelerating access to cutting-edge solutions, addressing gender and human rights-related barriers and supporting community health systems. Investments in HIV self-testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), digital health platforms, AI-enhanced diagnostics, and the professionalization of community health workers are just some examples of the transformative initiatives already making a difference.
Investments from the private sector have proven their ability to scale solutions quickly, catalyzing change and delivering exponential impact. To date, private partners have contributed over US$5.2 billion to the Global Fund, directly improving lives in over 100 countries.
Further support could, for example, fund initiatives that:
- Expand access to game-changing prevention, diagnostic and treatment tools.
- Better integrate investments across health systems to provide more patient-centric services and increase resilience against pandemics and climate-related health crises.
- Empower women and girls and marginalized populations, by addressing inequities and gender-related barriers.
The return from private sector partnerships scales quickly. For example, from 2020-2023, a US$25 million investment from the Global Fund’s philanthropic partner, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) to scale up HIV self-testing in Cameroon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, with an expansion in 2023 to Malawi and Zambia, has led to a more than US$110 million investment in HIV self-testing across all the countries in our portfolio, which is more than four times’ CIFF’s initial catalytic funding. This represents a seven-fold increase in the Global Fund’s investment in HIV self-testing over previous years. The procurement of self-test kits in these seven countries has also increased markedly, from about 950,000 in 2020 to more than 17 million by the end of 2023.
As a result of successful implementation, in 2022 CIFF provided an additional US$33 million to roll out HIV prevention to reach the most at-risk populations across Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. The main objective has been to contribute to the global goals of reducing new HIV infections by incentivizing the scale-up of HIV PrEP and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) as part of combination HIV prevention interventions in countries with populations with high incidence. In the first five focus countries, CIFF’s initial US$15 million investment has been multiplied by a factor of 3:1, resulting in US$46.6 million in funding.
In the coming weeks, the Global Fund’s Eighth Replenishment will be launched. This year marks a crucial opportunity for the private sector to join governments and other donors in accelerating the fight against HIV, TB and malaria, and strengthening health systems and pandemic preparedness. By mobilizing resources and expertise, businesses and philanthropists can drive sustainable progress and create a healthier, safer, more equitable world.